More Than Words Can Say: A Novel

by Robert Barclay

Overview

“I normally do not read male authors but someone recommended [Barclay] and all I can say to her is thank you.”
—Fresh Fiction

With his powerfully emotional debut, If Wishes Were Horses, author Robert Barclay immediately joined the ranks of Nicholas Sparks, Richard Paul Evans, and Robert James Waller. His second novel of love and hope, More Than Words Can Say, only confirms his place among them. A profoundly moving multi-generational family story centered around a woman’s return to her late grandmother’s lake cottage and the long-buried secrets she uncovers there, More Than Words Can Say will linger long in the heart and memory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062041197
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/20/2011
Pages:	367
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

After graduating from Colgate University with a B.A. in economics and a minor in art history, Robert Barclay enjoyed a successful career in business, also serving as chairman of his industry-related consulting group. After selling his business, he devoted his time to writing. His previous novels include If Wishes Were Horses and More Than Words Can Say. He lives with his wife in Florida.

Editorial Reviews

When Chelsea Enright's beloved grandmother, Brooke, dies, she inherits her long-forgotten Adirondack cottage and a strange letter telling Chelsea not to sell the cabin until she's visited and uncovered more instructions-hidden beneath the floorboards-from Brooke. Chelsea finds a set of diaries outlining Brooke's experiences during WWII, when she stayed at the cottage while her husband Bill was in officer training. According to the late Gram's missives, Brooke fell in love with next door neighbor Greg, leaving her horribly conflicted. Bill dies unexpectedly when his ship is sunk by a German U-boat, and Brooke finds solace with Greg. However, Brooke is overcome with guilt and abandons Greg and the cottage, vowing never to return to either. Soon after leaving, she realizes she is pregnant, but is never certain if the father of her child is Bill or Greg. While reading through her Gram's epistolary love story, Chelsea grows closer to her own next door neighbor at the cottage, Brandon, in Barclay's clumsy but well-meaning attempt to draw a parallel between the grandmother and granddaughter's stories. Unimaginative prose, dull characters, and a telegraphed and unsurprising plot make this story better left beneath the floorboards.
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Publishers Weekly

[If Wishes Were Horses] will satisfy fans of sweet romances and tender family sagas… Mr. Barclay weaves a quiet tale about people with hearts of gold, each barely coping with inner demons or tragic circumstances, who learn that they need one another in order to find redemption. — NY Journal of Books

“IF WISHES WERE HORSES is chock full of wonderful characters. The novel is a moving one, at turns poignant, sad, dramatic, amusing, and hopeful.” — Romance Reviews Today

“If you like novelists like Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, A Walk to Remember) or Nicholas Evans (The Horse Whisperer, The Storm Jumper) , Robert Barclay will be right up your alley” — Boulder Examiner

“MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY crosses genres and combines romance with mystery while managing to avoid becoming sappy or overly sentimental. The way Robert Barclay toggles between a summer at the beginning of the Second World War and a summer in the present is done masterfully.” — Book Reporter

From the Publisher

IF WISHES WERE HORSES is chock full of wonderful characters. The novel is a moving one, at turns poignant, sad, dramatic, amusing, and hopeful.

Romance Reviews Today

[If Wishes Were Horses] will satisfy fans of sweet romances and tender family sagas… Mr. Barclay weaves a quiet tale about people with hearts of gold, each barely coping with inner demons or tragic circumstances, who learn that they need one another in order to find redemption.

NY Journal of Books

MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY crosses genres and combines romance with mystery while managing to avoid becoming sappy or overly sentimental. The way Robert Barclay toggles between a summer at the beginning of the Second World War and a summer in the present is done masterfully.

Book Reporter

If you like novelists like Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, A Walk to Remember) or Nicholas Evans (The Horse Whisperer, The Storm Jumper) , Robert Barclay will be right up your alley

Boulder Examiner