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Half
Moon, Full Heart
by Gene Cartwright
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours |
Product Description
A unsettled economy, acts of terror, the winds of war. What the world really needs is a love story - a powerful love story - that embraces heart and soul long after the story has been told.
Once upon a time, it was 1955. Eisenhower (`Ike') was President; a stamp cost three cents; gas was twenty-three; Popsicles came two to a package; Elvis was twenty, and against all odds, young David Joe Fallon, Jr. and Jessie Marie Taylor were in love. The End.
And the story may well have ended there, were it not for what happened to those two. It has been said, few younger than twenty or so could possibly know true love.
That may be true for most, but not for Jessie Marie and David Joe, both of whom lived in Rosedale—a small, north-central Texas town—back in the 1950s. First taken with each other at age nine, these love-struck youngsters grew to profess a love so deep, in their hearts and minds it transcended life itself.
And despite Cyrus Ecclesiastes Taylor's success in keeping his daughter and David Joe apart, there was never any doubt these two lived and breathed each other. Not much else mattered to them. Taylor's actions, born of his intense hatred for David Joe's father, only steeled the young lovers' vows to love and cherish each other forever.
Theirs was a love cloaked with an aura of destiny; imbued with an air of inevitability. Most everyone in Rosedale knew that to be fact. What they sacrificed and suffered, to nurture their uncommon love, accounts for their indelible place in the hearts of all who know their story.
And there could only have been one Jessie Marie and David Joe. Townsfolk, who were alive then, still speak of them in mythical tones. No true love story can rightly be told without the mention of their names, and the storybook lives they shared.
Despite the joy and heartbreak that was and is their story, David Joe and Jessie Marie live on. And nearly fifty years later, the world beyond their part of Texas may never have known of, and been inspired by them, except for unforeseen events in Rachel Marin's life, half a country and nearly half a century away, in southern California.
September 11, 2000
Rachel Marin, a Texas-born beauty, and Boston University grad, had always dreamed of being a writer. Even when she served the President as Assistant, Deputy White House Press Secretary, she never surrendered her dream.
At thirty-eight, she was just divorced and clawing her way up from the basement of her life. Her heart was broken; her dreams shattered. On a cool September morning, she packed her life away into every corner of her vintage '65 Mustang and left California.
Along the way to an uncertain destination, a detour through a small, north-central, Texas town; a 50 year old wedding dress in a quaint dress shop, and a chance telling of a five decades-old love story, opens a magical door. The result is a fateful marriage of past and future.
The legendary love story of David Joe Fallon, Jr. and Jessie Marie Taylor inspires another story—one Rachel could never have dreamed. She finds herself helping to write a final chapter no one could have imagined.
Product Details
- Published on: Feb. 14, 2003
- Binding: Hardcover
- 252pages
- ISBN
0-9649756-1-0
Editorial Reviews
From
the Publisher
HALF MOON, FULL HEART can best be described as: 'Romeo and
Juliet' meet 'Bridges Of Madison County.' Those who have read
this heart-stirring story, re-read it, again and again.It
will stay in your heart long after the story ends. You will
wish there were more.
From
the Author
HALF MOON, FULL HEART is a special story for me. Some are
surprised when I say that: after writing a novel, I am able
to separate myself as the writer, and simply become a reader.
Reading HALF MOON takes me to a place—a gentler place and time, a simpler time, or so it seems from today's perspective.
I hope you will read it. Once you do, I am certain you will find it affects you as it does me, and others I speak to. I welcome your comments.
From
the Inside Flap
"And they danced. Bathed in the soft glow of a half moon,
they danced. David Joe held Jessie Marie as close as he knew
how—as close as he dared, and they danced. He held her so
close he felt their full hearts beating in unison, like a
lovers' duet, and they danced.
They danced to every song that followed, until the battery in the small transistor radio grew weak, and the melodic sounds of the Platters faded. And even after the radio fell silent and the night grew old, they danced."
—A night to remember, in a story you will never forget.
Customer Reviews
Getting
through the storm
Rachel Loftin grew up with success on her mind. Meeting and
falling in love with David Morin wasn't exactly her plan,
but when it happened, she embraced it wholeheartedly. Going
through the years with her husband seemed to be the pinnacle
of her life, until she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly,
the world as she once knew it came crashing down around her,
especially when the husband she so dearly loved shut her out
as if SHE were the disease.
Ironically, after her divorce, Rachel finds out that she never
had breast cancer, but was misdiagnosed. Feeling empty and
alone, she leaves everything and everyone dear to her in California
in an effort to "find" her true self. Stumbling to Rosedale,
the home of her father, Rachel begins to learn that when life
throws you punches, you don't have to fall down.
Meeting someone new was never her intent; self-love was the
main goal. While listening to the town's history, she also
learns about a love story and family feud that spans across
generations. With this new knowledge, and a new love interest,
Rachel sees life through a different pair of eyes.
HALF MOON, FULL HEART is a wonderfully woven tale of self-appreciation,
true love at its finest and rebirth. With its colorful, rich,
fairytale-like essence, this is sure to have you either getting
a tissue or jumping for joy. Gene Cartwright has outdone himself
with this novel, which is not just African-American literature,
but a fine crossover in literary genre. If you're ever in
the market for something different, this is a sure read that
won't disappoint.
Reviewed by Belinda
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
