VALENTINE TO FAITH

A single mother revisits memories of her haunting past to prevent her teen daughter from committing to a terrible man in Foyt’s novel.

The book opens on Florida’s Sanibel Island in 1985, where Angel del Corazón lives with her daughter, Faith, who’s approaching her high school graduation. Angel has devoted the past 18 years to raising her child and ensuring she has both the grades and the finances to attend college. Faith has always lived up to expectations, but recently, she’s been lying about her whereabouts. The tension between mother and daughter comes to a head when Faith stumbles onto correspondence revealing that her father, Santiago—whom she’s never known—is not dead, as Angel had always claimed. As a result, Faith declares her distaste for her mother and her intention to reunite with her dad. Readers learn through several flashbacks that Angel’s history with Santiago was rocky and violent; her decision to lie to Faith was based entirely on a desire to protect her. When Angel meets Faith’s new boyfriend, a controlling older man, she decides to come clean about her past to keep her daughter from making a mistake; she begins revealing her story through a series of letters, but is she already too late to make a difference? Foyt’s story alternates between sections in 1985 Sanibel, told in the third person, and sections on Angel’s past decades earlier, narrated by Angel herself. Interspersed are vignettes about mermaids and sea goddesses, related to myths and religious teachings that Angel learned in her youth. The novel gets off to a slow start, revealing key information slowly and sporadically. Eventually, though, the story becomes more insightful and compelling as the author delves deep into issues such as family dysfunction, abusive relationships, and self-doubt. However, as the author attempts to combine a coming-of-age tale with elements of romance, familial drama, and magical realism, it becomes needlessly complicated. Still, by the end, readers will be disarmed by the two endearing and fiercely loyal female leads.

An ambitious but uneven novel with strong-willed characters.