1996, 236pp.

from B&N: Synopsis
April 3, 1912. "Is this life, to grasp joy only to fear its escape? The price of happiness is the risk of losing it." So reads one of the many wise entries in David Parkin's diary in Timepiece, which traces the miraculous lives of David and his wife MaryAnne as they discover the power of love, loyalty, forgiveness -- and a long-forgotten keepsake that will change the fate of their family for eternity.

Annotation
The bestselling author of The Christmas Box now provides readers with an inspirational message which reminds them about the gifts they pass on to their children. Timepiece traces the poignant love story of MaryAnne and David Parkin as they struggle to learn the lessons of love, loyalty, and forgiveness in the face of tragedy. At the heart of the book is an unforgettable story of hope, and the source of wisdom MaryAnne shared with Richard in The Christmas Box.

Publishers Weekly
Like the titular treasure chest of Evans's bestselling The Christmas Box, the eponymous timepiece-"a beautiful rose-gold wristwatch"-of this heart-plucking prequel fairly vibrates with sentimentality. Readers of the former novel will recall how the author met aged widow MaryAnne Parkin and learned of her deceased husband, David, a successful businessman, and how their infant daughter, Andrea, died a tragic death. Here, Evans traces events some 80-odd years back to tell this family's story, but not before recalling the eve of his own daughter's wedding, in 1967, when he presents her with the wristwatch, given to him by MaryAnne. Fragments of David Parkin's diary, dated 1908-1918 and set in Salt Lake City, weave evocatively throughout the author's account of the Parkins' courtship, marriage and family tragedy. At the thematic center of the tale lies the timepiece, bequeathed by a wealthy widow to David's friend Lawrence Flake, a black man who repairs clocks. Events force Lawrence to kill another in self-defense; fearing for his friend, David tells police that he fired the shot, and is exonerated. In revenge, the dead man's friends set a fatal fire at the Parkin house and steal the symbolic timepiece, which will come back to the Parkins only after an extraordinary act of kindness and forgiveness by MaryAnne. Evans has a more ambitious tale to tell here than in The Christmas Box, and he generally carries it off with aplomb, though the dark events of the central story and an unabashedly sappy wedding-eve coda don't quite mesh.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

near OBCZ basket on the wide window seat.