The Carousel [Paperback]

This is the love story of Michael Keddington and Faye Murrow, a love story that takes place not in seclusion but in the real world, with the challenges that all lovers must face. No relationship is an island: There are threads that bind us all and pull at our lives -- the demands of family, of friends, of work, and social obligation. And there are times that the pull of those threads becomes greater than the strength of the relationship. In these times, no matter how much two people love each other, a relationship must grow strong or be torn apart.
The Carouselis about what happens when life doesn't turn out the way that we planned. Beyond a love story, it is about faith, loyalty, and sacrifice.
My hope is that you, and those with whom you share this book, might find the message of this story meaningful and applicable to your own life.
And that in some way you might feel changed.

Sincerely,
Richard Paul EvansChapter One: Della

There was another death tonight at the Arcadia. Della

Estelle Gifford. There were no family or friends at her side,

only us employees. As many times as I have experienced such

lonely passings I still do not understand how, with so many

people on this planet, so many die alone.

MICHAEL KEDDINGTON'S JOURNAL

ARCADIA CARE FACILITY. OGDEN, UTAH.

There was a moon that night, a pale crescent that hung low above the canyon and shone weakly into the dying woman's window. Della's was not a spectacular death, if any death can be described as spectacular. She made several attempts to blow out a flameless birthday candle, then reclined in her bed, rubbed the translucent skin of her liver spot-flecked forehead, and mumbled something about Errol Flynn. Twenty minutes later she gasped twice, then died.

There was no family present at her passing, just the three of us, all paid to be there: Sharon Holt, Brent Griffin, and myself, sitting around her in that diml#.