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Dahlia and Sunny Gorden were always close as children. Even though Sunny was older by five years, the two girls found a similar interest in their love of music. Sunny wrote the melodies that seemed to flow from her soul and Dahlia wrote the words. At every family function the two would team up together on the piano that Sunnyıs parents bought her and sing the songs they wrote. Everyone who listened to their music were always brought to tears. Along with the music that came from deep within her, Sunny also had a lot of demons. As a small child her schizophrenia was a part of her life. Sometimes Sunny was in good health but as she got older things became worse. Sunny would run into the street naked, curse people, and once even tried to kill her father. She was in and out of hospitals and underwent every type of treatment possible, but nothing helped her. Eventually, her parents had to put her in a group home. Dahlia was 12 years old when Sunny was taken out of the house for the last time and she never forgot the look of fear in her cousinıs eyes. Even though Dahlia continually asked about Sunny she was never given much information. Twenty-five years later Dahlia is now a struggling songwriter who wants nothing more than to be successful in the field. Her live-in boyfriend, Seth, supports her dreams as much as he can. Dahlia has big dreams for her future, but Seth is happy where he is with his career. Basically, they canıt understand each other. In order to make a living, Dahlia works as a masseuse. One of her clients is in the motion picture industry and she discovers that the name of his newest film has the same name as the first song that she and Sunny wrote together as children. Seeing a great opportunity, Dahlia makes a compact disk of the song and sends it to her client who agrees to buy it. Now all Dahlia has to do is find out which group home Sunny is in, get her to sign the contract, and most importantly, to make certain that Sunny is competent enough to understand how important it is to give her consent. SOME KIND OF MIRACLE, written by Iris Rainer Dart, describes the road that Dahlia travels in order to understand Sunnyıs schizophrenia. When Dahlia discovers that her cousin can still write the kind of music that combines so well with her lyrics, she takes Sunny home with her so that she could use her cousinıs talent to become the famous song writer she always wanted to be. Dahlia started her journey for her own selfish profit, but instead she regained her deep, solid friendship with her cousin. Ms. Dart, who wrote the very popular novel BEACHES, once again tells the tale of two women who need and depend on each other and who, in the end, help each other more than they could have ever possibly dreamed. The book is filled with family characters who love and care for each other. Through Dahliaıs memories, we read about Dahlia and Sunnyıs childhood. As Dahlia deals with Sunny, she remembers how her family did their best to help each other and how both of their parents showed so much warmth and love to their families. Through those reminiscences she learns that there is more to life than becoming famous. SOME KIND OF MIRACLE is a lovely book filled with warm feelings. Even though the end was a little too neatly wrapped up, and things worked out a bit too perfectly, and weıre told a little too often that Sunny and Dahliaıs songs were so beautiful that they brought tears to all who heard them, itıs still a satisfying book to read. I recommend SOME KIND OF MIRACLE if you like a feel-good story and book. Itıs skillfully written and Ms. Dart has a first-rate knack for writing about relationships between women.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, October 2003
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