Reviewed by David Leonhardt, MyShelf.Com
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's latest wonder arrived in my mailbox just when I was already trying to squeeze 30-hour days into my paltry 24. But how could I let something from such a gifted writer just sit there? Carolyn Howard-Johnson writes like an onion … with each layer she peels craftily coaxing tears from her readers' eyes.

"Harkening" is one such tear-jerker -- a collection of Depression era tales from her mother's childhood and memories of her own--some sad, some happy, all heartwarming.

There is something eerie about this book, something that keeps the reader off balance. It is clearly an autobiography, both of Howard-Johnson and of her mother. It says as much up front: "Stories can easily lose themselves without a teller-of-stories to keep them alive. A family needs a bard."

But sometimes I get the feeling that this book may be as much fiction as reality -- like the feeling some people get that they are outside themselves watching their comings and goings from afar. Two quotations she places up front lend credence to my theory.

And some of her tales are clearly not autobiographical … or are they? Well, the names seem to change and she writes some in the third person, but maybe they are autobiographical just the same. I so dearly wanted to ask the author. But I held back, taking the stories at face value, just as you, dear reader, will when you get the chance.

"Harkening" -- or at least some of the tales in "Harkening" - picks up where Howard-Johnson's This Is The Place left off. (If you have not yet read This Is The Place, I highly recommend it.) There are moments of triumph. There are scenes of tension. Many of the stories are seen through the eyes of a child, through the innocence of youth, and through superb, descriptive writing that makes the reader feel like he is there in the story.

Howard-Johnson finally reveals the source of her magical writing skills when she calls her mother "The most avid of these story-tellers."

If I could describe Harkening in one word, it would be "captivating!" Enjoy every story.

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David Leonhardt is the author of Climb your Stairway to Heaven