Another Man’s Treasure is a romantic story in the way that we love photographs of different eras. The way we love classic stories and children’s books that have touched us magically since childhood and in the way we love old buildings and homes that have stood the test of time. James O’Connor reaches in and grasps that sense of romantic nostalgia and weaves a beautiful story of unexpected love in absence and taps our desire for hidden secrets with a bit of a treasure hunt.
The story begins with Ted, a devoted husband and home organizer, who is struggling with his feelings over a very charming and flirtatious divorced client. Still trying to cope with things that had happened in his past, he resists his desires rationally for the love of his wife who is a career driven woman dealing with her own sense of shame at his choice of work.
In this midst of these personal struggles, Ted is offered an odd job working on a very large manse where he is asked to search for something of great value that may or may not be in it. The house is as eccentric as his Client’s deceased Father and is riddled with secret rooms and passages. And while Ted begins to disentangle the mystery of the house, other pieces of his life seem to find themselves fatefully weaved together.
Handsome home organizer Ted has a double dilemma. As a devoted husband, he’s struggling to resist the charm and seductive flirtations of Janet, a divorced client. Circumstances keep bringing her back into his life, fueling his wife’s suspicions and inciting threats from Janet’s jealous ex-husband. Ted must also deal with the ire of James Smith, a demanding client who is convinced his eccentric father died leaving something of great value hidden in his cluttered and mysterious Victorian mansion. Together , Ted and Janet interpret clues that lead to two surprising discoveries?one that captures the imagination of the city, and one that determines their fate.
Had James O’Connor decided to just write Ted’s personal story it would have been a beautiful love story, wrought with real difficulties and yet silhouetted with beauty. However, he did something quite unique and expertly and silently brought in a whole other story wrought with mysteries and intrigue. This is why I loved the book. He had found a way to balance each characters personal story with the objects within it. The house, the treasure, the riddles and side characters all representing pieces of each of the main characters. At the end you are simply blown away by how all the small intricacies are actually representations of the larger picture. The characters are very realistic, their ideas not so exaggerated, so you can relate to their struggles and desires. I was absorbed into the book shortly after I began and often thought about it when not reading it; especially the riddles which all relate in some way to Peter Pan.
It is a great book and James O’Connor did an exquisite job writing his first fictional novel after Cuss Control; a Self-Help book that had been featured in Time Magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The New York Times and many other places; which I will be writing a review on soon. It’s a great book to have at your bedside or whilst enjoying a day to yourself. It conjures up the dreams of old broken homes and the mysteries that lie in wait within them and in the secrets of ourselves.
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Buy It!
You can buy the Another Man’s Treasure for $10.80 on Amazon.
I received samples for the purpose of reviewing. Opinions expressed are my own or my families and are not influenced by any form of compensation. Take it or leave it. Click here to view my full acknowledgment policy.
