In post-civil war Georgia, Katie Calloway is a young wife
who has a little brother to take care of and an abusive husband to avoid. When
she discovers her husband off visiting relatives at a surprisingly early hour
and a booby trap set up in their barn meant to kill her, she flees. She runs as
far north as she can manage and ends up in Bay City, Michigan. She falls into a
job at a lumber camp that will pay for both her and her brother to stay on the
run and make them nearly impossible to get to until spring. What follows is a tale
of faith, determination, and pride as Katie learns to cope with life in the
wilderness and deals with the aftermath of abuse. She even manages to learn to
love again.
This is a Christian historical fiction novel. I’m not the
biggest fan of Christian novels merely because they seem so preachy and that
one aspect takes over the entire novel. “Bad
things have happened but because you believe in god, everything is perfect now”
story lines with no character growth are just bad writing. Serena Miller does
not do this. She has characters that mature and learn things and struggle with faith
as well as the situations in the books. When her character Katie is questioned for
lying about their names and origins by her little brother, she justifies her
decision instead of extemporizing about how it’s ok and god will forgive them.
The author uses the characters to demonstrate that it is possible to care about
other people who don’t exactly share your faith. The writing is amazing, the
characters are well rounded and believable, and the Christian aspect isn’t
overwhelming. This book has something for everyone. Over all this book is great
and I was so impressed I’m actually rereading it already.
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