The Reluctant Visionary was written by Datta Groover and published by Deep Pacific Press in 2023. You can purchase it on Amazon and you can visit the author on Amazon and on social media.
A grandmother and granddaughter both have a gift of seeing the future, but they have never met. Anna Mae is living in the 1960s while Jess is living in the present day. Jess lives in Texas where racism is prevalent and the color of her skin also makes her a target of a human trafficking and kidnapping syndicate while she struggles to keep her family's farm from going into foreclosure. Trying to manage her visions and the business is extremely stressful, as she doesn't know which visions are real or just dreams. Does she go to the authorities to report the violence in them or does she remain quiet? Anna Mae believes that divine inspiration guides her visions. In both cases, do they follow the visions or keep them to themselves?
I found the dual time-line aspect of this novel intriguing and the pacing was effective in keeping me engaged throughout the story. All the characters in the novel contributed to adding depth to the story and were well developed. I especially liked that the author revisited the 1960s and told about all the turmoil and tension during those times and the supernatural abilities of the characters added to the plot to give it even more appeal. The story also highlights our moral responsibilities to do the right thing, but it presents a conflict in how do we deal with the dilemma of facing the consequences, even when our hearts tell us what is just?
The only drawback of this story, for me, was that the author didn't expand more on the storyline of the visions, which I found very interesting, given that it connected both the granddaughter and grandmother and seems to be a gift that will live on through the generations. That being said, this was a well-written novel, and I loved it!
I give The Reluctant Visionary 4 out of 5 stars.
Datta Groover is a scheduled guest on The Writers Lounge Blog Talk Radio Show #151 on May 13, 2024