A Journey to Here by Margaret Johnson-Hodge

Rating:   PENS!!!!

A Journey of self discovery

According to Margaret Johnson Hodge, the past can not be altered, yesterday is just that and tomorrow anything is possible.

One day Philip arrived on the doorstep of Sylvia Allen, his high school sweetheart. Philip, married for 30 years to Dorothy returned to New York to see if the flames of love could be rekindled.

Sylvia and Dorothy were best friends in high school until Philip came between them. Sylvia had been "holding out", but Dorothy "put out." Dorothy and Philip’s tryst broke up her friendship with Sylvia.

For 30 years, Dorothy was the glue behind her marriage, telling Philip how to dress and what promotions to apply for. All of Dorothy’s hard work paid off because Philip attained a nice solid middle class lifestyle with all the trappings and finery to go along with it, but something in the past still gnawed at his heart: Sylvia.

Sylvia was a stay at home mom dealing with teenage daughters. Aaron was rebellious and sneaking around to see boys; Monet was shy and bulimic.

When Sylvia caught Aaron in a compromising position with her boyfriend J’Qaun and Aaron discovered that the "stranger" Philip was her mom’s long- lost teenage love, they made a pact not to divulge each other’s secret. A pact Aaron broke the fateful day she told her father, Emery that Sylvia, his wife had kissed Philip.

In A Journey to Here, their lives were put together with bits of glue and dabs of spit. Philip’s appearance back in Sylvia’s life caused her to confront issues that she had locked away for thirty years in an airtight vault. Will the marriage of Emery and Sylvia survive? Will Monet overcome her bulimia?

This is a book about family and the compromises one makes to resolve past issues, a story that will keep the reader entranced in the power of love and forgiveness. Margaret Johnson Hodge’s characters are fully developed with all the human idiosyncrasies. I enjoyed reading this novel, for the author writes about real life issues in a straight forward manner.

Helen Banks

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