“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”  – William Wordsworth”

I write these recommendations from the perspective of a reader but I read the books with the eyes of a writer. Every reader follows authors whose work they love and eagerly await. If you are a re-reader like I am, you pacify yourself by reading again the books the author has already written. This is how I feel about Barbara O’Neal who also writes as Barbara Samuel.

Her latest book, The Garden of Happy Endings, is about a group of people, each with his or her own problems, banding together to create a community garden in an abandoned lot next to San Roque ‘s Catholic Church.

It contains all the signature elements that you will find in Barbara’s books: damaged people wrestling with messy problems, mystical dreams and visions, tantalizing food that makes you want to go find something to eat while reading, and dogs who steal your heart.

Set in Pueblo, Colorado, The Garden of Happy Endings carries an authenticity that comes from the fact that Barbara is a Colorado native who continues to live in that part of the state. It is a story about two sisters, Thomasina (Tamsin) and Elsa –named after a cat and a lion– who find themselves living once again in the modest house where they were raised. Elsa, a recovering Catholic, driven by the fact that she was forbidden to be a priest to become a Unity minister, is facing a crisis of faith. Tamsin, the beautiful sister, is confronted by the dawning realization that her marriage, along with all the comfort and security it has provided, is not what she thought it was. Working together, each sister finds her way back to a life that is both meaningful and joyous.

Deftly woven throughout the story, you will meet three delightful little boys, an earnest priest who once was in love with Elsa, a sexy contractor who is desperately trying to make amends for past sins, Tamsin’s spoiled daughter, Alexa, and an medicine man named Joseph.

It would not be a Barbara O’Neal book without the dogs. Charlie, the flat-coated retriever, is the star, but it is the elderly black lab named Joe who got to me. If you have ever had a dog you have watched grow old, you will love him, too.

Barbara O’Neal’s books often contain elements of the mystical, crossing easily between the worlds of the living and the dead. The Garden of Happy Endings is no exception. This book contains that and more.

Finally, there is appendix that lists the recipes that are mentioned throughout the book.

In the last two weeks, I have offered you a novel based on an ancient Greek poem and an admittedly disturbing story of a post-apocalyptic dystopia. The Garden of Happy Endings is my idea of pure comfort reading. I hope you walk away, as I always do, from reading Barbara O’Neal’s books believing that it is possible to make a difference in some small way and that life is essentially good because in my heart I believe that it is.

I love all Barbara’s books but my favorite remains A Piece of Heaven written under the name of Barbara Samuel. If you like this one, then I encourage you to read it. I don’t think you will be sorry.

Now I am going out to buy the ingredients to make Elsa’s Split Pea and Barley Soup.