Tuesday, April 19, 2022

The Sign For Home Review

Author: Blair Fell
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Atria
Release Date: April 5, 2022
Purchase Link: Amazon

4 Inspirational Hearts
Special thanks to Atria Books for an arc of this book.

When Arlo Dilly learns the girl he thought was lost forever might still be out there, he takes it as a sign and embarks on a life-changing journey to find his great love—and his freedom.

Review:
The Sign For Home is a beautiful story, romance and education on the world of the DeafBlind.  Arlo Dilly is a young man with the deck stacked against him.  He's DeafBlind with very limited tunnel vision in one eye.  He's also a Jehovah Witness under the guardianship of a overbearing uncle determined to control every aspect of his life.  Arlo's future is bleak until a couple of things happen - Arlo hires a new male interpreter Cyril who brings along his hilarious Belgian boyfriend Hanne and he begins recalling some past memories of a lost love who Arlo thought was lost forever.  Everything together spurs Arlo into beginning a journey of regaining control of his life.  Arlo, along with Molly his long time interpreter, Cyril and Hanne, sets out on a quest for truth and freedom.  If his lost love is alive, he will find her.  And he will claim responsibility for his own life and future.  No more sitting by and trusting what he's told.

The Sign For Home is one man's journey for the freedom he's been denied.  Through laughter and tears, readers will travel with these wild characters as they slay the dragons and cast off the ties that bind them.  Along the way, readers will receive an education on the trials and tribulations of living as a DeafBlind person as well as the pitfalls of living under the thumb of a person bound and determined to use Arlo as the voice of Jehovah's God.  I greatly enjoyed Arlo's journey of discovery as well as the growing bond and friendship between his misfit crew.  The story unfolds through dual points of view in alternating chapters.  Fell does a expert job of weaving educational aspects of both living with deaf and blindness and life as a Jehovah Witness into the plot line which is driven by Arlo's desire to live his own life as normally as possible.  The Sign For Home is an inspirational, heartfelt, love story that I will remember for some time.  I highly recommend it to readers who are fans of contemporary fiction with a healthy side of love, laughter and tears.  

Synopsis:
Arlo Dilly is young, handsome and eager to meet the right girl. He also happens to be DeafBlind, a Jehovah’s Witness, and under the strict guardianship of his controlling uncle. His chances of finding someone to love seem slim to none.

And yet, it happened once before: many years ago, at a boarding school for the Deaf, Arlo met the love of his life—a mysterious girl with onyx eyes and beautifully expressive hands which told him the most amazing stories. But tragedy struck, and their love was lost forever.

Or so Arlo thought.

After years trying to heal his broken heart, Arlo is assigned a college writing assignment which unlocks buried memories of his past. Soon he wonders if the hearing people he was supposed to trust have been lying to him all along, and if his lost love might be found again.

No longer willing to accept what others tell him, Arlo convinces a small band of misfit friends to set off on a journey to learn the truth. After all, who better to bring on this quest than his gay interpreter and wildly inappropriate Belgian best friend? Despite the many forces working against him, Arlo will stop at nothing to find the girl who got away and experience all of life’s joyful possibilities.
 

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