"Old Heart," author Peter Ferry's second novel, rewards readers with many layers and themes. Although anchored in the past, it is told in the present (with frequent flashbacks).
The novel's back-story began when protagonist Tom Johnson fell in love with a Dutch translator, Sarah van Praag, during his World War II service in the Netherlands. They parted after an unresolved argument around the time Tom was to be shipped out of country at the war's end. Back at home, Tom attended college under the G.I. Bill, earning a master's degree and becoming a high school history teacher. He married a young widow, and their union produced three children. But he never forgot Sarah, often wondering what had happened to her.
Tom served as the main parent to his beloved first son, Tony, who was born with Down syndrome. His wife wanted to institutionalize the boy, a common decision at the time, but Tom insisted on keeping him at home. Thus began the unraveling of their marriage, a relationship unsuitable for both parties. Through the years, they "hurt each other in ways that never healed" yet stayed together because "that's what people of our generation did."
With all this as background, the novel opens in the present with Tom as a missing person, having snuck away from home after the death of Tony. His two children, concerned about Tom's mental and physical health, want him to move to an assisted living facility. But that's not what Tom wants, so he settles his financial affairs and flies to Holland to find Sarah, in hopes of forgiveness and perhaps a second chance before he dies.
Alternating chapters, narrated by Tom's granddaughter Nora, flash back to the war years and forward to Tom's search for Sarah and his assimilation into Dutch culture. He rents a small apartment in Eindhoven and develops friendships with an elderly Dutch gentleman and his quirky landlady. He keeps in touch with his granddaughter through email, a device that helps tell the story. Tom's children want him to return home and hire a lawyer to intercede with the Dutch immigration service. Tom also employs a lawyer to help him stay permanently in the Netherlands, and a legal fight ensues.
While some aspects of the story might seem implausible, in this author's hands, it's all believable. A lesser author could have made the story cloying and sentimental. Instead, readers meet some deeply flawed and sympathetic characters who deal with serious challenges and issues - love and loss, family conflicts, memory and mortality, and the individual rights of the aged. The story is full of surprises, with Ferry's beautiful writing a literary treat for the reader.
Does Tom find Sarah? Yes, but it's no perfect romantic reunion. It's something richer.
Madeline Matson is reference and adult programming librarian at Missouri River Regional Library.