Reflections

What does it take to forgive someone of a wrong they have done? If God encouraged you to forgive another, or even to forgive yourself, would you answer His call? For Riley O'Toole, it took God's blessing of a talking flower named Rose to take him out of despair and into becoming a changed, godly man. Riley, in the juvenile fantasy novel Reflections by author John Thomas, is overcome with grief over the death of his wife and children, which is intensified through forced isolation from town by bitter gossip from his angry sister-in-law. Through the unlikely friendship with Rose, Riley learns the peace that comes from forgiveness as well as the spiritual transformation that also emerges inside him. This Irish fantasy tale is told in folklore tradition, passed down from grandfather to grandsons to become lifelong lessons in forgiveness, self-acceptance, victory from disappointment and love surpassing differences.