Set Me Free

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
Warner Books (2007)
ISBN 9780446533317
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (2/07)

Amelia remembers 1987, when at age seven-years, she and Victor find a baby near Wiggler’s Creek.  Victor’s first thought was to go to Elliott Barrow, Amelia’s father for help.  By the time Victor returns with Elliott, the baby has disappeared.  Victor and Amelia’s childhood friendship ended that day when she hesitated, until he returned to life as an adult.

When Elliott calls Helen, the director/founder of First Stage Theater, once again her heart melts.  Helen was Elliott’s first wife and he always knew how to approach her with what he wanted.  This time Elliott wanted her to come to Ponderosa Academy and help with a theatrical production of “The Tempest.”

Willa is a talented artist.  She and her mother have moved many times and she dreads the sight of the Volvo crammed with their belongings.  She’s preparing for an art show when once again she hears the clang of her father’s car.  This time he offers her a choice.  She doesn’t have to go with him if she doesn’t want to.  Recently he heard NPR talking about Elliott Barrow.  Carolyn, Willa’s deceased mother, had made him promise that he would see Elliott.  As soon as she realized that this request came from her mother she grabbed her backpack prepared to make the journey.  “She made me promise that if anything ever happened to her, I would find a man named Elliot Barrow and deliver a message for her…Three days later, she was killed in an explosion in New Jersey.  She was staying in a house with six other people, and they were making bombs in the basement.  And that’s how she died.”

There were things about Elliot that few people knew, things that would haunt him. “We knew as soon as we started up the last little hill, that things were going to be terrible.  We felt it, the horror growling in the root of our stomachs, when we say the flames.”

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, author of “Set Me Free,” is a tremendously talented writer.  Miranda tells this story through the words of Cal, the assistant Headmaster at Ponderosa Academy.  It is through his eyes the story unfolds. The plot moves freely with Cal writing the words of first one character and then another. The story flows well, budding into a drama that grabs you and won’t let go.  There are twists and turns that are unexpected in this drama.  Miranda takes her readers on a journey that develops and builds to a crescendo. The characters are well developed.  Willa and Amelia were particularly well defined.  Each girl is strong, caring and independent, more alike than they would ever suspect.  This reads as non-fiction, the story was one that I would easily believe was true.  The love story that develops is beautifully scripted.  It is with honor that I recommend “Set Me Free” to those that enjoy fiction and drama.

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