The Words We Whisper by Mary Ellen Taylor {Book Review}

From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes a sweeping saga that interweaves the past and present in an epic tapestry of love, war, and loss.

As a hospice nurse, Zara Mitchell has already seen more death than most people will experience in a lifetime. So when her older sister asks her to help care for their ailing grandmother, Zara agrees—despite strained family relationships.

Though pale and tired, Nonna has lost none of her sharp mind. She’s fixated on finding something long forgotten, and she immediately puts Zara to work cleaning out the attic. Unexpectedly, amid the tedium of sifting through knickknacks and heirlooms, Zara also reconnects with a man she’s attracted to but whose complicated past makes romance seem impossible.

But then Zara finds what Nonna was looking for: a wooden chest, an emerald broach, a leather-bound journal. As she immerses herself in stories of heroism and loss set against the backdrop of war-torn Italy in 1943, Zara finds answers to questions she didn’t know she had. And they change everything she thinks she knows about love, regret, and seizing the day.

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I absolutely loved The Words We Whisper. I cannot wait to read more by this author and was disappointed when the book ended.

The story bounces between past and present. We follow Zara and her half sister, Gina, and their Nonna, Renata, in current day; while we follow mainly Isabella, with some of her friend, Mia, in the past. The past takes place in the 1940’s during the war, in Rome.

The Words We Whisper provided suspense, a hint of mystery, a touch of romance, and a couple of surprises I didn’t see coming. In all, it created the most desirable story I have read in a long time.

This isn’t my type of genre to typically read, but I am so glad I took a chance on this book because it really was the most fascinating read from beginning to end. I really found the the past stories to be my favorite part and looked forward to reading those the most.

I am no history buff, but really did find the history to be intriguing, especially as it mainly came from a female perspective.

I highly recommend reading The Words We Whisper. I will definitely be reading more by this author and sharing my thoughts here too!

About the Author

A southerner by birth, Mary Ellen Taylor’s love of her home state, Virginia, is evident in her contemporary women’s fiction, including Winter Cottage , Spring House and her latest Honeysuckle Season and her latest The Words We Whisper. She’s also celebrated the city of Alexandria and its storied history in her books The Union Street Bakery, Sweet Expectations,  At the Corner of King Street and The View from Prince Street.

As do so many people, her protagonists search for their place in the world, exploring issues of family, home, love and belonging. Inevitably, Mary Ellen’s stories entwine with those of the places in which they’re set, and the mysteries at their core span past and present.

Mary Ellen is also known nationally as New York Times and USA Today bestselling suspense novelist Mary Burton. Together, they have published forty-five novels and five novellas. Mary Burton’s latest, Near You, debuts April 2021.

When not traveling or holed up writing, Mary Ellen spends time with her husband enjoying their empty nest and spoiling their miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella and Tiki.

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