5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly beautiful

By LB Johnson

Johnnie bears more than the name of a ghost; she bears the secrets that come with it. Her father only an unknown shadow, her mother flying away like a bird at the first sign of winter, she’s left to her own self-doubts and no clear path to adulthood. Watched only by the ghosts of the living and the dead, wearing the uniform of her pain, she declares war on her body, controlling the one thing she can—the food that heals or harms. Time and a marriage puts that eating addiction behind her and although her life is stable, it is not the one in which she could be more than just another’s person’s wife, another person’s name, but herself.

In a moment of unwitting honesty, she reveals her deepest secret, overheard by the one it would hurt the most. What follows is a richly layered story of lives that connect, even as they push one another away, of haunting memories, and fluttering hopes. It is a story told in both actions and words as Johnnie chronicles her questions for both the living and the dead, in the words of her journal.

Ms. Rodgers ability to lend heart and soul to each character is a rare gift and I closed the book with not just tears in my eyes, but with the feeling I had just witnessed the most intimate parts of a stranger’s life, rendering them no longer a stranger. I closed the pages with sadness for the small tragedies that can define our human condition, yet with hope for the transforming power of forgiveness.

This is a remarkable piece of writing.

LB Johnson – award-winning author of The Book of Barkley

Johnny Come Lately is published by Camel Press www.camelpress.com Rodgers is represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com