Thirty-five-year-old Leslie Wickersham has been struggling to unravel details about her family and find answers to many unanswered questions. When offered a job as the grants officer at Raymond University, she is surprised to learn that she will be working with English literature professor Dr. Gregory Stafford, who is writing a biography about the Buckwalters, the family of an accomplished writer. Dr. Stafford is stuck digging for elusive information into a branch of the family shrouded in mystery, to which Leslie is secretly and directly related. Soon, Leslie is entrusted with a 1950s diary that reveals intricate details about her family, and she must decide whether to expose or protect her family's dark secrets. However, her decision is complicated by letters of blackmail from her ex-husband, her personal interests, and her working relationship with Dr. Stafford. Find out how it all goes down in Laura DeNooyer’s The Broken Weathervane.

Lovers of slow-burning literary and drama novels blended with mystery will find Laura DeNooyer’s The Broken Weathervane an enthralling read. DeNooyer unfolds the story through a third-person perspective, giving me a glimpse into the lives of the cast in 2015 and the 1950s. The subtle tone accompanying the narrative hooked me, keeping me turning page after page. I could not tell where the story was heading. Using sharp, character-driven conversations, accompanied by an introspective voice, DeNooyer gave me insight into the cast’s emotions. Juxtaposing their complex traits made it easy to connect with them. I loved the quotes in the book. The story explores themes of love, loyalty, family dysfunction, mental illness, stigma, grief, loss, moral ambiguity, abandonment, secrets, and much more. Leslie has found the information she sought for so long. And that has brought her to a crossroads of two important choices—family honor or the truth. What will she choose?

The Broken Weathervane by Laura DeNooyer tells the story of Leslie Wickersham, a woman caught between present-day struggles and family secrets that have been hidden for years. Leslie is a grant writer looking to rebuild her life after setbacks and luckily gets a new position at Raymond University. What feels at first like a much-needed fresh start soon grows complicated when she is assigned to work with Dr. Gregory Stafford, a sharp but difficult professor. His research into a well-known literary family comes close to Leslie’s own past, putting at risk the secrets her family has tried to protect for many years. As she fights to keep those secrets hidden, Leslie also has to face the pressure of her new job and the constant reminder of her grandparents’ history that refuses to stay buried.

I really loved how the author moved seamlessly between the two timelines so that each transition carried me forward without any confusion, creating an engaging and consistently steady narrative. The writing is so realistic that the conversations between the characters sparked a lot of emotions in me, sometimes catching me off guard because of how real they sounded. The characters were well-developed, and the tensions between Leslie and Gregory were like seeing two stubborn people trying to get their way, almost like a cat and a dog trying to share the same space. Their constant back-and-forth added an energy that kept things lively, balanced by the steady presence of family connections. The pace unfolded smoothly and picked up speed when the tension called for it. Secrecy, forgiveness, the connections to the past, and mental illness are powerful themes and made the story remarkable. It is an unforgettable read. I highly recommend The Broken Weathervane by Laura DeNooyer to readers who enjoy thoughtful fiction.