Lety’s Gift

Lety’s Gift
Coralie Hughes Jensen
Lightning Rider Press
ISBN: 0-9787318-0-8
Fiction, Chic Lit
Reviewed by Candace Mahoney

Born in the caul, Sophie Hawkins has a “gift.” But Sophie is orphaned at a very young age, and is raised first by a cruel grandmother, then a pedophilic minister, and finally, the overseers of a prison-like orphanage. Her psychic gift, which should be a blessing, is seen more often than not as a tool of the devil rather than a talent from God, and as such leads to Sophie’s eventual breakdown.
Sophie finds a sympathetic ear in psychiatrist and priest Griffon Fairbourne, who has a gift of his own and who helps Sophie to make sense of both her gift and the tragic events of her childhood. Inspired by her mentor, Sophie decides to enter the priesthood and becomes part of a circle of close friends at Divinity College. Eventually sent to isolated western Newfoundland, along with classmate Noah Lodge, Sophie is assigned the job of hospital chaplain. There, she finds her gift emerging once again as she interacts with the patients and explores the mysteries surrounding the closed off fourth floor that once housed an insane asylum.
Author Coralie Hughes Jensen has her own gift, storytelling. She has done a wonderful job of keeping Sophie’s story, which spans many years - moving along with a very natural pacing. I was hooked from the very beginning by the vivid poem that opens the story, and Jensen kept me turning the pages as I wondered what would come next and how it would all resolve.