Unspoken - eBook

Glee has raised a young gorilla named Sema from birth using the research of others who worked with gorillas, teaching them to communicate with humans, and has taken it to a higher level. When Glee is in the middle of some exciting breakthroughs, the zoo that owns Sema and has been loaning her to Glee, wants her back.

The new zoo director sees only that Sema is an attraction. They offer Glee a job at the zoo, putting Sema on public display. Glee is furious but has no choice. She can take the job or lose Sema who is as beloved to her as a child. The job interferes with Sema’s best interests at every turn--or at least that’s the way Glee sees it. On top of everyting, Fielding, the head of the gorilla exhibit, is a man Glee humiliated years before when his rigid rules nearly cost Sema her life. He is also a man she once thought she could love.

Unspoken is the second book by Angela Hunt I’ve read recently. The thing that springs to my mind is, Hunt is just unusually talented. It’s not the subject matter that catches you. It’s Hunt’s way of bringing the reader into the lives of her characters. Simply put, Hunt makes you care. I believe the woman could write about anything from the first man on the moon to a civil war romance to a text book and she’d make you care. Glee is passionate and strong willed. Her investment in Sema’s life is self-sacrificing until it’s an obsession. She is also capable of suspicion and jealousy, as well as being undeniably brilliant.

Fielding cares deeply about gorillas. He is pressured by Glee on one side and the zoo director on the other. His life is a balancing act which he doesn’t always hit just right. Any slips on his part are immediately viewed in the worst light by Glee, even while she’s remembering why she once cared for him.

The sum of the parts of this book simply adds up to more than the whole. The unexpected twists are too surprising to even hint at in this review because watching them unfold is so key to the enjoyment of the book.

Expect an engrossing, challenging journey through the pages of Unspoken, all while being pulled along on a fast ride through unlikely terrain. Absolutely excellent. – Mary Connealy, Christian Book Previews.com