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Half
Moon, Full Heart
by Gene Cartwright
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Product
Description
A unsettled economy, acts of terror, the winds of war. What the world really needs is a love story - a powerful love story - that embraces heart and soul long after the story has been told.
Once upon a time, it was 1955. Eisenhower (`Ike') was President; a stamp cost three cents; gas was twenty-three; Popsicles came two to a package; Elvis was twenty, and against all odds, young David Joe Fallon, Jr. and Jessie Marie Taylor were in love. The End.
And the story may well have ended there, were it not for what happened to those two. It has been said, few younger than twenty or so could possibly know true love.
That may be true for most, but not for Jessie Marie and David Joe, both of whom lived in Rosedale’Äîa small, north-central Texas town’Äîback in the 1950s. First taken with each other at age nine, these love-struck youngsters grew to profess a love so deep, in their hearts and minds it transcended life itself.
And despite Cyrus Ecclesiastes Taylor's success in keeping his daughter and David Joe apart, there was never any doubt these two lived and breathed each other. Not much else mattered to them. Taylor's actions, born of his intense hatred for David Joe's father, only steeled the young lovers' vows to love and cherish each other forever.
Theirs was a love cloaked with an aura of destiny; imbued with an air of inevitability. Most everyone in Rosedale knew that to be fact. What they sacrificed and suffered, to nurture their uncommon love, accounts for their indelible place in the hearts of all who know their story.
And there could only have been one Jessie Marie and David Joe. Townsfolk, who were alive then, still speak of them in mythical tones. No true love story can rightly be told without the mention of their names, and the storybook lives they shared.
Despite the joy and heartbreak that was and is their story, David Joe and Jessie Marie live on. And nearly fifty years later, the world beyond their part of Texas may never have known of, and been inspired by them, except for unforeseen events in Rachel Marin's life, half a country and nearly half a century away, in southern California.
September 11, 2000
Rachel Marin, a Texas-born beauty, and Boston University grad, had always dreamed of being a writer. Even when she served the President as Assistant, Deputy White House Press Secretary, she never surrendered her dream.
At thirty-eight, she was just divorced and clawing her way up from the basement of her life. Her heart was broken; her dreams shattered. On a cool September morning, she packed her life away into every corner of her vintage '65 Mustang and left California.
Along the way to an uncertain destination, a detour through a small, north-central, Texas town; a 50 year old wedding dress in a quaint dress shop, and a chance telling of a five decades-old love story, opens a magical door. The result is a fateful marriage of past and future.
The legendary love story of David Joe Fallon, Jr. and Jessie Marie Taylor inspires another story’Äîone Rachel could never have dreamed. She finds herself helping to write a final chapter no one could have imagined.
Product Details
- Published on: Feb. 14, 2003
- Binding: Hardcover
- 252pages
- ISBN
0-9649756-1-0
Editorial Reviews
From
the Publisher
HALF MOON, FULL HEART can best be described
as: 'Romeo and Juliet' meet 'Bridges Of
Madison County.' Those who have read this
heart-stirring story, re-read it, again
and again.It will stay in your heart long
after the story ends. You will wish there
were more.
From
the Author
HALF MOON, FULL HEART is a special story
for me. Some are surprised when I say that:
after writing a novel, I am able to separate
myself as the writer, and simply become
a reader.
Reading HALF MOON takes me to a place—a gentler place and time, a simpler time, or so it seems from today's perspective.
I hope you will read it. Once you do, I am certain you will find it affects you as it does me, and others I speak to. I welcome your comments.
From
the Inside Flap
"And they danced. Bathed in the soft glow
of a half moon, they danced. David Joe held
Jessie Marie as close as he knew how’Äîas
close as he dared, and they danced. He held
her so close he felt their full hearts beating
in unison, like a lovers' duet, and they
danced.
They danced to every song that followed, until the battery in the small transistor radio grew weak, and the melodic sounds of the Platters faded. And even after the radio fell silent and the night grew old, they danced."
’ÄîA night to remember, in a story you will never forget.
Customer
Reviews
Getting
through the storm
Rachel Loftin grew up with success on her
mind. Meeting and falling in love with David
Morin wasn't exactly her plan, but when
it happened, she embraced it wholeheartedly.
Going through the years with her husband
seemed to be the pinnacle of her life, until
she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly,
the world as she once knew it came crashing
down around her, especially when the husband
she so dearly loved shut her out as if SHE
were the disease.
Ironically, after her divorce, Rachel finds
out that she never had breast cancer, but
was misdiagnosed. Feeling empty and alone,
she leaves everything and everyone dear
to her in California in an effort to "find"
her true self. Stumbling to Rosedale, the
home of her father, Rachel begins to learn
that when life throws you punches, you don't
have to fall down.
Meeting someone new was never her intent;
self-love was the main goal. While listening
to the town's history, she also learns about
a love story and family feud that spans
across generations. With this new knowledge,
and a new love interest, Rachel sees life
through a different pair of eyes.
HALF MOON, FULL HEART is a wonderfully woven
tale of self-appreciation, true love at
its finest and rebirth. With its colorful,
rich, fairytale-like essence, this is sure
to have you either getting a tissue or jumping
for joy. Gene Cartwright has outdone himself
with this novel, which is not just African-American
literature, but a fine crossover in literary
genre. If you're ever in the market for
something different, this is a sure read
that won't disappoint.
Reviewed by Belinda
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
