Carolina Gold by Dorothy Love

Carolina Gold by Dorothy Love is a book about the reconstruction era after the Civil War.  Feelings ran only hot and cold during this time in the south.  Charlotte Fraser had just return to the plantation, Fairhaven, after spending the end of the war caring for her ailing father in his last days of life.  Her father had run a Rice plantation and now upon his death was given the news that she needed to find the deed to the family holdings or risk losing it all.  Was it not enough that she was going to have to figure out how to run the rice operation in addition to the numerous repairs to the damaged home and surrounding buildings after the ravages of the war?  Carolina Gold was the name of the superior rice grown in the Lowcountry area of South Carolina where Charlotte grew up after her mother died.  The slaves were now freed and now she must figure out how to pay for repairs to the buildings and the fields as well as find willing honest workers all from her meager funds.  All around her men who had run their own rice plantations were going bankrupt. Charlotte though not a woman who finds attending social dances important as others around her is not used to working the rice fields alongside the field hands and her blistered hand soon show it.  Her dresses containing yards and yards of fabric have been replaced with more simple dresses suitable for working now. 

I liked this book though found it interesting what people of means call being poor.   Charlotte finds herself thought of as poor because she has to think about where every penny goes and it is necessary to work as a teacher for her neighbors children.  It is always interesting to read a novel based on real historical events.  Charlotte is based on a 19^th century female rice farmer who grew Carolina Gold in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  This is the story of a young woman attempting to recreate at least a portion of the plantation that she grew up on and how she manages to learn to live in a new way on her own.

This book was provided by Booksneeze for this review.

Emma of Aurora by Jane Kirkpatrick

Emma of Aurora is a book based on the life of Emma Giesy.  She was instrumental is the scouting out of the Washington territory eventually the settling of Aurora Mills, Oregon. Emma Wagner was raised in the Germany community of Bethel, Missouri.  She was raised in a common community of Christians who were under the leadership of Father Wilhelm Kiel.  Father Kiel’s word is law.  Everything in Bethel belongs to the community under the name of Kiel.  If anything is needed from flour to fabric or lumber it must be first obtained from the community storage building.  Everything earned by the community went into the community fund.  Women had little or no say not only in this community but anywhere in the country legally.  This book is a compilation of 3 books in the Change and Cherish Trilogy.  It chronicles Emma Wagoner’s life from young adulthood into middle aged.  In the first book, A Clearing in the Wild Emma marries Christian Giesy, a man that she has been long admiring from a distance, against Father Kiel’s denial of his agreement to marry.  Christian had been sent on a mission to bring in others to the community of faith.  Father Kiel’s rules include celibacy and he discourages most marriages stating that it decreases working for the community.  Father Kiel’s family on the other hand is quite large.   Christian and Emma finally obtain permission to wed but Father Kiel will not preside over the ceremony—they must go elsewhere to have their wedding.  Quickly Father Kiel sends Christian again off to work in the hills of Kentucky.  When he returns Father Kiel wants to again send off Christian to scout out the Washington territory to move the entire community.  It would take at least a year.  Emma can’t stand the thought of being away from Christian that long and starts to devise a plan to go as the first woman scout.  Against many odds Father Kiel allows her to go but Emma has no idea of the hardships entailed with exploring through Indian Territory to get to Washington territory especially as a young pregnant woman. 

The second book chronicles the settling of Willapa Bay in Washington territory by the scouts lead by Christian Giesy and the settling of Aurora Mills, Oregon by Father Kiel.  It tells of the hardships of the dividing of the original Bethel, Missouri group into two divisions and the difficulties of each.  Father Kiel is getting older and also has moved away from some of his religious fervor (though not the rules set down by him) and moved toward economic enterprises that would make the community more money.  This book is told through the eyes of Louisa Kiel, Father Kiel’s wife and Emma in alternating chapters.  This leads the reader to understand both the reasoning behind the Kiel family and the Giesy family.  It leads the reader to a deeper understanding of both families.  Emma goes through the emotional grief of losing her husband and marrying a man in hopes of saving the farm for her sons but ends up in a loveless and violent union.  Emma frantically writes to her family for help but no letters come.  Emma has decisions to make in order to keep her children safe from her husband Jack Giesy.

The third book is A Mending at the Edge. In this story we read of Emma and the raising of her children and the difficulties she has depending on others for her safety from Jack and escaping into Aurora Mills.  She finds that the city is less than the Kiels had earlier described but that life is easier than in the territory cabin that she lived in with her drunk and often violent husband.  She learns to heal and forgive and live a life of meaning where she is not always in control of her destiny.  She learns to find happiness and to accept the forgiveness of others.  Emma matures as her children do.  She finds ways to provide for them food, clothing and education for not only her boys but also the girls.  Life is still difficult at times but manageable with the help of faith, friends and family.

I thought this book was one that should be read by those interested in the history of the settling of the west.  I love history so I was enthralled.  I however had to set the book down at times—sometimes because of my anger, sometimes because of the extreme sadness of the times.  Life was hard for our first settlers and I don’t think we always appreciate all that they did for us.  We owe a debt of gratitude to them.  They weren’t perfect just as we are not but they persevered and changed our country into the one we live in today—for better and for worse.

This book was provided by WaterbrookMultnomah for this review.

An Amish Miracle by Beth Wiseman, Ruth Reid and Mary Ellis

An Amish Miracle by Beth Wiseman, Ruth Reid and Mary Ellis is a collection of 3 novellas, each one written by one of these women.  They each highlight a different woman in the same Amish community of Paradise, Pennsylvania.    These women are all good friends and each one is about to experience a miracle from God.  Hope Bowman believes that God is punishing her by giving her only girls for children because when was a very young teenage girl she was raped and her father made her give up the boy child for adoption.  Hope has 4 beautiful loving daughters whom she loves dearly but so wants a son not only for her husband but also for herself.  She prays for a miracle then the day after she admits to her husband, Stephen, of her shame she awakens to a knock on her door and finds her 15 year old son, James, standing there with quite a story to tell the family of his adoption then life in foster care.

The next story continues to tell of Bowman family but the story centers on Hope’s good friend Rosa Hostetler who is about to lose the farm to back taxes after the untimely death of her husband.  Rosa hates depending on anyone for anything but her pride is getting her further and further into debt and then when the English neighbor’s dog start killing her chickens that is the last straw.  Those chicken’s eggs are her only means of supporting herself.  Not only are her chickens being depleted but since they are now scared the ones that are left have quit laying.  One day that she lost her temper and shot the dog leaving it wounded and limping back to its master.  Her neighbor brought her the vet bill.  It took all the money she had been saving to pay for it.  She gave up.  She couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t pay her bills, she would have to go live with her aunt and she didn’t want to.  That night she prayed for a miracle.

The last of the novellas continues these 2 women’s stories to a minor degree and Becky Byler is the lead character.  Becky had been discussed in the two prior stories as a lovely though overweight teenage girl.  Everyone loves Becky but Becky has no confidence in herself or believing that her neighbors especially the boys would like her just for herself—even her overweight self.  Becky learns to love herself and trust that people would love her also even if she doesn’t look like what the world see’s as beautiful.

I liked this collection of stories.  I especially liked that though these stories could all stand alone that they all are also connected.  These 3 writers have done a fabulous job of intertwining the stories to make this book.  I would recommend this as good reading for any woman or girl of most any age.

This book was provided by Booksneeze for this review.

Samson by Shawn Hoffman

Samson by Shawn Hoffman is book written based on true events which happened during World War II in Auschwitz.  Dr. Josef Mengele who was conducting horrible surgical experiments on Jews especially children using no anesthesia and Rudolf Hoss a high ranking military official in Nazi Germany discover that Samson Abrams is a former boxing champion.  They have been having boxing matches for the entertainment of the troops and high ranking officials.  The Nazis enjoy the watching and betting on the outcomes and the Jewish participants fight the fight of their life—the winner getting extra food rations and the loser get death in the gas chamber located within the camp.  This truth was hidden by the German forces running the camp both during and after the war.  This book tells some of the horrors of this war and life in the concentration camps.  It tells of the tireless work of Maximilian Kolbe a Polish Catholic priest imprisoned for hiding Jews who never gave up hope nor gave up working for the good of mankind right up until his death. 

To say that this book is difficult to read is an understatement but it needs to be read by all adults “lest we forget and repeat history”.  I had to stop reading this book many times just in order to get over the horror contained in the writings.  I would stop and clean a room to get my mind off of the atrocities not only of life during a war but of the things that Nazi Germany subjected these concentration camp prisoners.  Though I believe that this book needs to be read by all adults I also think that if a parent allows a child to read it, even an older child that the child needs to be closely observed for signs of trouble digesting the horror of this book and definitely needs to be read by both parents before allowing the child to read it.  This book is well written and I am glad to be given the opportunity to read it.

This book was provided by Booksneeze for this review.

The Dawn of Christmas by Cindy Woodsmall

The Dawn of Christmas by Cindy Woodsmall is about the loss of the dream that Sadie had at the age of 19 to have the life of being a wife and mother just like the other women in her Amish culture.  On the day before her greatly anticipated wedding day she caught her fiancé, Daniel, in the arms of her cousin.  She answers the call of the Lord to go to a missionary tour for 2 years in Peru.  She finds and learns to love the native people in the area but needs to return home to raise the money to return.  Upon her arrival home she finds that her parents have not changed much and still are planning her return to the family and start planning for her to start a family of her own.  Sadie finds herself drawn to Levi as a friend only and Levi accepts her as a friend only also.  It seems like the perfect solution for both of them to get their respective families off their back—pretend to be lovers and their family will leave them alone.  Sadie can be busy raising money for her return to Peru and Levi can work on growing his business then they can stage a fight and “breakup”.  That works for a while, until they start to fall in love with each other.  The two best friends start to accept that they may have a relationship worth saving until that is Levi starts to talk to his business partner, Daniel, and finds out that he is the jilted Daniel of Sadie. 

I, just like all the rest of Ms Woodsmall’s books, loved this one.  It is written on the premise that if we would all just take the time to become friends first and lovers second we would find our self married to our best friend.  Would not that plan be the one that we all wish for our children as well as for our self?  Are there pitfalls in this plan?  Would the passion still be there?  Would we find it like being married to our brother or would the relationship change to one of passion?  How important is passion anyway?  Doesn’t it always just go away after awhile?  These are all questions that all couples find themselves answering before marriage whether marrying a best friend or experiencing love at first sight.   Once again Ms Woodsmall looks at the life of the Amish and we find at that the more we discover the differences the more we see that we are more alike than different.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Press for this review.

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay is a novel about Samantha Moore who has been in the foster system on and off since she was a little girl.  She was placed with her mother who somehow passed a program to get her back but then was found on the streets after her father traded her to pay off a debt to the group of men he owed money.  After graduation she is offered an opportunity by Father John from the Home and a Mr. Knightley.  She is given the chance to go to graduate school and all she has to do in return is write regular honest letters to Mr. Knightley about her progress and her life.  Mr. Knightley is the only person who she feels comfortable enough to be honest with except of course Father John who know some of her history through her case records.  To say that Samantha has had a rough life is an understatement.  Her father tried to strangle her in front of a mirror so that she had to watch.  Her mother was a drug addict who only cared about herself and her drugs and maybe Sam’s dad.  Now Mr. Knightley was offering her one last chance but she had to go to school in journalism and she loved fiction.  Sam lived in the fictional world of Dickens and all the old classics.  Her speech was peppered with quotes from all those books.  Could Sam live an honest truthful life and trust those around her into her dark secrets?

I liked this book but you can’t judge the book by its cover.  I didn’t like the way it ended though I could see it coming.  It made me cry so often just seeing how the foster system works against the children it is supposed to help.  If this is the first book that Ms. Reay has written I look forward to reading more of her works. 

This book was provided by Booksneeze for this review.

Never Ending Spring by Darrell Case

Never Ending Spring by Darrell Case is murder mystery by Mr. Case.  Jack Johnson is a farmer in Indiana who has endured many hardships in life but Jack is a farmer like many others we all have known who lean over and pull themselves out of all problems by pulling on his boot straps and walk forward.  Jack is a good man who has endured the early death of his young son in a farming accident and is now going through the raising of his granddaughter after the senseless murder of his daughter and her pastor husband right in their own church.  Jack blames the police force who is not doing a good enough job solving the crime.  Jack blames God (maybe) since he says he doesn’t believe in Him or at least the hypocrites who go to his sin in law’s church.  Jack blames Lonnie Greggs, the local criminal who has an alibi but it all seems pretty fishy to Jack.  Then when Lonnie runs and the police refuse to go after him and bring him back to town Jack takes the law into his own hands and leaving his wife Ruth to run the farm, he decides to take onto himself this miscarriage of justice.  He looks for Lonnie and even captures him but while returning to town someone shoots and kills Lonnie and tries to kill Jack also.  Jack begins to have second thoughts about Lonnie.  Maybe Lonnie was telling the truth.  But if it wasn’t Lonnie who could it be? 

As with the other Case book that I have read I liked this mystery.  I thought he could have not tipped his hand quite so quick to show the reader who the killer was but the suspense was good and though the reader knew who the killer probably was they didn’t know how many bodies would stack up before he would be arrested.  Mr. Case also does an excellent job of telling the story of Jack’s being saved by Jesus Christ.  Life does not become perfect after accepting Christ in his life but just more manageable.  I like Mr. Case’s style of writing and look forward to reading more of his work.

As an aside I wish the back of the book would have been writing in a different fashion.  I am afraid that the way it is written that only Christians will read the book.  I feel that with Mr. Case’s background in mission he would like to also reach the unchurched and I feel that  it could be written less heavy handed.