Patrick's Notebook: Review

There's something special about people who are interested in the printed word.
They are a species all their own - learned, kind, knowledgeable and human.
Nathan Pine

Above: Back Cover

Above: Front Cover

A Gift Book in the Truest Sense of the Word

When Patrick lost his notebook at the country club...

Seldom, in one's all too mundane existence, does so utterly sublime a tome as Patrick's Notebook fall into the humbly outstretched hands of the ever-optimistic reviewer. This book is a gift from the goddess. The reviewer's patience has been magnificently rewarded

In his own words, our own courageous, selfless, devoted, and poetical Patrick Thornhart lays bare before us his noble soul, writing movingly of his eternal love for the bewitching but troubled Margaret Saybrooke, who became the love of his lonely life the instant he lay his eyes, not to mention his lips, on hers.

A Spellbinding Love Story with Poems Included

Margaret found it. Her first attempt to return it failed... but eventually it, and she, returned to Patrick.

The story of how Patrick and Margaret met on the enchanted Irish isle of Inish Crag sets the stage for the timeless romance with which the author spellbinds his readers in these pages. Not only is this tale mesmerizing on its own terms - a captivating story of lovers equally as captivating - but Thornhart gifts us with many lyrical poems that reflect on his feelings for Miss Saybrooke - and that also offer a welcome opportunity for the reader to reacquaint herself with some of the world's most senstive love poetry.

Some of the immortal poems included in Patrick's Notebook are the Shakespeare Sonnet 116 ("Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..."), A Thing of Beauty, by John Keats, How Clear She Shines, by Emily Brontë, She Walks in Beauty, by Lord Byron, Miles From Home, by Thorsten Kaye, and Longing by Matthew Arnold. 

Each of these poems, and all the others here besides, enhance Thornhart's true story of love, heartbreak, turmoil, and determination, and his own words suffer not by comparison....

A Treat for the Ears as Well as the Mind and Heart

We have in Patrick Thornhart an instinctive, articulate, and irresistible writer of the first rank, and we have in Patrick's Notebook that rare maiden effort that is destined to become a classic. 

Incredibly, the book comes packaged with an audiocassette of Thornhart's own recital, in his deep, warm, velvety Celtic-tinged voice, of several of the poems found in the book. His rendering of Sonnet 116 is especially heartfelt, and you'll hear his ringing Mother Ocean (printed in the Spring 1996 issue of The Patrick Papers) in your dreams for many autumnal nights to come.

It is strongly recommended that you acquire your own copy of this wonderful book. Some things must be experienced for oneself. 

© K. A. Brand 2011. All rights reserved.