Heather Bell Adams’s beautiful second novel gives us a compelling portrait of friendship across the ages, from World War II-era Manila to modern-day Savannah, Georgia.
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Her desperate decision during World War II changed everything. Now, 70 years later, her secret is unraveling.
At ninety years old, Audrey Thorpe still lives in a historic mansion on palm-tree-lined Victory Drive, determined to retain her independence. But when her health begins to fade, her family hires a part-time caretaker, Laurel. The two women seem to bond—until Audrey disappears. Unbeknownst to Laurel, Audrey has harbored a secret since her time as a nurse in the South Pacific during World War II.
As the story moves between the verdant jungles of the war-torn Philippines and the glitter of modern-day Savannah, friendships new and old are tested. Along the way, Audrey grapples with one of life’s heart-wrenching truths: You can only outrun your secrets for so long.
“A plot-perfect page turner … Adams has hit the sweet spot, mastering a literary tone with commercial pacing … a screen-worthy winner and a book club bullseye”
—Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author
of Perennials and The Feathered Bone
“Telling a story from the heart is Heather Bell Adams’s specialty. The Good Luck Stone captures the complicated layers of friendship between women in two time periods, their losses and loves and the choices that bind them together, for good or bad. Her deft use of detail paints the beauty of modern-day Savannah with breathtaking clarity, and brings to light the horrors faced in the Pacific during WWII. But it is her tender portrayal of the desperate journey of Audrey and Laurel that will grab the reader from the first page, defining the complexities of keeping a promise and what it means to be, and to have, a friend.”
—Kimberly Brock, award winning author of The River Witch
“The Good Luck Stone is a taut and lyrical literary thriller that I found difficult to put down. This novel immerses us expertly in the high society world of modern Savannah and the tropical heat of the Philippines during World War II, both anchored by an endearing character you’ll never forget, caught up in an intricate plot that will keep the pages turning long into the night. Heather Bell Adams is a truly gifted novelist.”
—Silas House, author of Southernmost
“Gentle, nostalgic, and told with great heart, The Good Luck Stone toggles between modern-day Savannah, Georgia and WWII in the South Pacific, timelines and lifetimes pinned together by matching jade brooches that symbolize devotion and enduring friendship. Through ninety-year-old Audrey and Laurel, the young mother hired to care for her, Heather Bell Adams tells the stories of feisty, determined women who know sacrifice, women who soldier on, caring women you’d be lucky to call ‘friend.’ A charming, sumptuous read.”
—Susan Bernhard, author of Winter Loon
Heather Bell Adams’s first novel, Maranatha Road (West Virginia University Press 2017), won the gold medal for the Southeast region in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and was named to Deep South Magazine’s Fall/Winter Reading List. Her short fiction, which has won the James Still Fiction Prize and Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Award, appears in The Thomas Wolfe Review, Pembroke Magazine, Broad River Review, The Petigru Review, Pisgah Review, and elsewhere. A native of Hendersonville, North Carolina, she currently is an attorney living in Raleigh.