Author:: Lynn Austin
File size (Pages): 1367 KB (416)
Published: 2012
Genre: Christian fiction, Historical fiction
Challenges: Support Your Library, Historical Fiction
Edition: E-book
Source: Library
Description: In the aftermath of the Civil War, Josephine Weatherly and her mother, Eugenia, struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives when they return to their Virginia plantation. But the bitter realities of life after the war cannot be denied: their home and land are but shells of their previous grandeur; death has claimed her father and brother; and her remaining brother, Daniel, has returned home bitter and broken. The privileged childhood Josephine enjoyed now seems like a long-ago dream. And the God who failed to answer any of her prayers during the war is lost to her as well.
Josephine soon realizes that life is now a matter of daily survival--and recognizes that Lizzie, as one of the few remaining servants, is the one she must rely on to teach her all she needs to know. Josephine's mother, too, vows to rebuild White Oak... but a bitter hatred fuels her. (via Goodreads)
Thoughts: I thought that the book was okay. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either; it felt like it was middle of the road and much like a number of Lynn Austin's current books and felt that it could have been better. I felt irritated with the relationship between Josephine and her mother evolve a little differently and felt that their relationship was sort of made "nice" in relative short order and that Daniel really didn't face any real consequences for his actions in the book; it felt too unrealistic in that Daniel basically got away with his actions and I am sure that if that had really happened during the reconstruction period, that he would have been arrested and put up on trial for his actions. I wish that Christian writers wouldn't put things in nice and tidy bows and assume that people got away with things of that sort of seriousness.
Bottom line: Overall, I quite enjoyed the book and look forward to more of Ms. Austin's writing.
Rating: 3/5
Pages for 2012: 19841
No comments:
Post a Comment