A Tangled Web

Book Review

Introduction

            Each day we stand on top of yesterday, reaching back a week, a month, and years, perhaps, to pluck out memories that give us assurance of our place in the world and a foundation for tomorrow. There are always compartments and hidden places where we allow some people in and keep others out; our lives are tangled webs of secrets and deceptions.

            “A Tangled Web “unfolds a worth remembering story about love, family, contentment, sacrifices and deceptions. How can these two women dream about what they might have been, if they had made different choices, lived a different life. In this story, two women boldly chose to lived that dream. How Sabrina and Stephanie can cope with these kinds of tragic and heartrending things in their life? Will forgiveness, sacrifice and love prevail? Or deception and fraud take the most out of it?

Their Story

            A tangled Web is about two identical twins named Sabrina and Stephanie Longworth. Stunning and adventurous Sabrina married and divorced with a wealthy English aristocrat named Denton. She now runs a successful antiques business in London. While her quiet, homemaker sister Stephanie married a scientist and university professor named Garth Andersen. She stays at home in the suburbs with their two children namely Penny and Cliff and envies her sister’s jet set lifestyle. Stephanie has everything in her life, an adorable children and a loving husband that Sabrina lacks. But in spite of this, Stephanie’s desire for a more exciting life is putting a strain on her marriage. The deception started when Sabrina and Stephanie joined the group of antique dealers on the trip to China, and while they were there, away from everything familiar, Stephanie – it was Stephanie, the less adventurous one, who thought of changing places. They both agreed to switch their identity for a week. Sabrina went home as Stephanie and Stephanie went to Sabrina’s home in London as a divorced single. No one except Garth knows the true identity of Sabrina Longworth, despite of this she forgives Sabrina. Garth did not like Sabrina when they first met. But Sabrina easily adjusts to Stephanie’s home life, and gets to know and like Garth. On the other hand, Stephanie finds out that she is good in antique business. But when Sabrina and Stephanie decided to switch back, Sabrina breaks her leg and the deception has to continue. The switching of identities from week stretched to a month, and what had begun as a lark ended in passion and tragedy as Sabrina fell in love with her sister’s husband and grew to love their two children as her own, and Stephanie doesn’t mind that because she has started an affair with powerful member of London society which is Max Stuyvesant. Nor Stephanie was upset when Sabrina confesses that she could not say no when Garth wanted to make intimate love. In that situation, the longer Sabrina lives with Garth, the more she falls in love with him. Garth feels also that he is falling in love with his life all over again. But one accident changes their whole life; Stephanie was killed when her lover’s yacht explodes. Sabrina cannot bring herself to tell everyone that it was really Stephanie who died. The body of Stephanie was identified by her ex-husband…Denton while the remains of Max Stuyvesant were missing and presumed death. Sabrina was ravaged by loss and remorse. But the truth is that Stephanie is not actually did but suffering from amnesia. Max decided his identity including Sabrina’s personality and named Sabrina Lacoste in order to save their lives. They started their new life in Cavaillon, away from everything and hide in black market because Max Stuyvesant was a member of smuggling group. After the buried of Stephanie, the whole story started to twists around when Sabrina’s friend named Gaby told her that he saw her in France but in fact, Sabrina had lived in United States the whole time. So, she decided to go to France to find out the truth. On the other hand, Stephanie decided that she needs to break up with Max because she was unhappy. But when she met Leon her life became meaningful and happier. When Sabrina was in France, she finds out that her twin sister was not actually dead. Sabrina feels that the past and present collide, threatening to shatter her new happiness.

            In the end, Stephanie sacrifices her own happiness… her children and decided to lived and spend her life as Sabrina Longworth with Leon. She chose to become an aunt … a good aunt to her own children even if it was hard. While Sabrina became Stephanie Andersen forever, living with her adorable children and loving husband- Garth. So, the game was never meant to get out of control. Neither of them dreamed how easy it would be to get lost in a maze of deceptions.

Lessons To Learn

            The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real estate, but friendship, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith. This means that we have to be satisfied with what we have and that envy can have heartbreaking results. So, contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and happy purchase. Because being contented in what you want, but the realization of how much you already have or in other words try to be like the turtle –at ease your own shell.

            Another lessons learned in this story, is that of making sacrifices and letting go. Letting go is one of the hardest lessons in life. When you’ve formed an attachment to people and things, it can be a very painful experience and feeling of not having that person or thing in your life just squeezes your heart in pain. However, there are times where you or that person has changed to the extent that it’s necessary to let go of the relationship or friendship, so that each of you can fulfill your life path just like happened in the story. Letting go of your family members doesn’t mean giving up, just like in case of Stephanie and her children, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be. Because sacrificing doesn’t always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go. According to Isaiah 53:7 which states that “he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers it dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In other words, there are things that we never want to sacrifice, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that sacrificing go isn’t the end of the world; it’s the beginning of a new life.

A Must Read…

            A Tangled Web is a fictional novel written by Judith Michael that is about love, tragedies, consequences, fate and deceptions. Aside from that, it raises an important issue that is needed by everyone. It also touches every aspects of our daily routine in the most amazing way. This book could not put it down or asleep all night or just have spare moment because this story is full of suspense, surprises, love, fears and cries. Additional to that, “A Tangled Web” is a rare, sappy love story, with an intricate plot that includes humor, love and well story background.  We need also to read this story because the plot twists are great including the development of each character. Read through it as it brings you to tears and definitely puts a smile on your face while thinking that love always seems to create so many tangles, but in fact there is usually a single thread that can be pulled to make everything clear.