A PROMISE TO BELIEVE IN BY TRACIE PETERSON

A PROMISE TO BELIEVE IN BY TRACIE PETERSON is the first book in THE BRIDES OF GALLATIN COUNTY series. The story takes place in 1879 in a remote area of Montana where Gwen, Beth and Lacy Gallatin run a stage stop called Gallatin House. They are running it on their own after their father has been tragically shot. His death is ruled an accident but the girls, especially Lacy, feel there could be more to it. Lacy is determined to procure justice for her dead father, who she believes was murdered, and cannot let this go. Lacy is the tomboy of the family and tends to try and do things in her own strength. She is trying to make up for her mother's death in childbirth which she feels is her fault.
Gwen, who is the oldest, feels her life is cursed and thinks The Lord is punishing her for her disobedience in going to a fortune teller against her mother's wishes and feels responsible for her mother's, father's and husband's deaths.
Beth, the middle daughter, is a hopeless romantic, and spends her life reading romance novels, imagining she is the heroine. She feels guilty that, although she dearly loved her father, she now feels relieved that they will no longer be moved all over the country by him. The constant moving from one place to another has affected her.
Gallatin House is next door to Rafe's saloon and the activities that take place there are most offensive to the law abiding neighbours.
When Hank Bishop, Gwen's deceased husband's brother, comes on the scene, the girls are suspicious of him. Gwen realizes that Harvey has been far from honest with her, and that makes her unwilling to open up to anyone for fear of being hurt again.
In this novel we see how Gwen comes to grips with her fears and comes to understand better the sacrifice of her Lord at Calvary and what this means in her life. She sees that He became a curse for her and her disobedience has been forgiven.
It is a charming novel with a fair share of intrigue, lovable characters and a good Christian message.

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BELONGING BY ROBIN LEE HATCHER

BELONGING by ROBIN LEE HATCHER -   is a book I can highly recommend.  It is beautifully written and has a strong Christian message.  In fact I have ordered the sequel, BETRAYAL, which is only coming on to the market today!
Felicia Brennan Kristoffersen comes to Frenchman's Bluff, Idaho, to be the new schoolmistress. Orphaned at ten and separated from her brother and sister, taken in by the elderly and unaffectionate Kristoffersens, she hasn't felt she belonged anywhere since her beloved mother died. One thing that she does have, however, is a close and personal relationship with her Lord, who has sustained her throughout her life. We see her love for Him throughout, and how she is reminded through the Scriptures to let go of unforgiveness and to be thankful for what she has. She is excited that she has been given this new start and is totally committed to inspiring the children, especially the girls, to carry on with their education and thus open up opportunities for the future.
Colin Murphy is on the school board and is Felicia's landlord. He is the owner of the mercantile. He has also had sorrow in his past, having lost his wife and being left to bring up his daughter, Charity, on his own. Along the way he seems to have lost his faith in God.
Charity is an outgoing little girl who soon becomes fast friends with "Miss K". Colin, who with Mrs Summerville, voted against employing a young unmarried teacher in case she got married and left the children without a teacher, soon becomes enamoured with this beautiful and godly young woman. At last he has hope that Charity will overcome her reading problems when Felicia helps her with her studies in the evenings.
Kathleen Summerville is the widowed mother of two daughters. Her mother-in-law is controlling and Kathleen longs to be free of her in-laws and have a home of her own. She and Felicia become friends in spite of Mrs Summerville's interference.
The interaction between the characters is an interesting study of human behaviour and the longing to belong flows throughout the story. The importance of standing up for oneself when controlling family members try and run one's life, and of letting go of the past, living in the present and looking forward to the future, is also brought out strongly in the novel.

ALL THINGS NEW BY LYNN AUSTIN

ALL THINGS NEW by LYNN AUSTIN is set in the South in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War.
Eugenia Weatherly, who has fled White Oak plantation to live with her sister and family in Richmond Virginia, and who has lost her husband Philip and oldest son Samuel in the war, decides to take her daughters back home.  They have been reduced to poverty by the war, their home has been vandalized by the Yankees, and they are left with only two of their former slaves, Otis and Lizzie, who are still at White Oak with their three children.
Eugenia is a very strong woman and she is determined to salvage  their old way of life out of the ruins.  She has a very imperious attitude towards the former slaves and has instilled this attitude into her children.  When her son Daniel comes home from the war his attitude towards the Negroes and the Yankees nearly gets him into serious trouble.
We see how clinging on to the old ways brings hatred and dissention.  Eugenia is very conscious of her family's social standing and is shocked when her oldest daughter Josephine refuses to see the importance of behaving in a socially acceptable manner and instead helps Lizzie with household chores and in the vegetable garden.  Her youngest daughter, Mary, is timid and longs for life to come back to normal.  Eugenia hates seeing her children suffer and does all she can to win back the five years that the Yankees have stolen from them.
Otis and Lizzie are also concerned for their children and are delighted when Alexander Chandler of the Freedmen's Bureau opens a school for coloured children.
Otis has a strong faith in God and Lizzie relies heavily on her husband.  They are afraid to move away as the other slaves have done because they want a better life for their children and want them to better themselves by getting an education.
Relationships are very tense all round and when the Negroes are attacked and the school is burned down by vigilantes who want things to go back to the way they were, where the slaves "knew their place" and the Yankees were still the enemy, it is largely through Jo's intervention that all out fighting does not break out again.
Jo keeps telling her family that all things are to become new and that they can no longer strive to bring back the past.  They need to all work together to grow cotton again, to grow vegetables and concentrate on the things that are truly important in life. 
She has been brought up to listen to the men in her family but she is disappointed in her brother's disinterest in farming and antagonism towards Mr Chandler and the former slaves.  She doesn't want to hurt her mother, but she does not want to be forced into the social scene nor does she want to marry anyone she does not love just because he comes from an aristocratic family.  In spite of all the heartache, the war has actually set her free to marry for love and to live the life she chooses to live.  All things are indeed becoming new.  It takes her a long time to realize this, even as it takes the former slaves a long time to realize that they are truly free.  We see how behaviour and attitudes are ingrained in people from childhood.
Alexander Chandler and Jo become friends, much to Daniel and Mary's horror.  Alexander is a committed Christian who believes that the Lord has sent him to the South to show love and forgiveness towards the enemy.  He comes from a family of Quakers and only joined up because he felt that God hated slavery and wanted him to help set the slaves free.  In joining up he goes against his upbringing and is estranged from his family until he chooses to never again take up arms.  He is implementing a share-cropping plan where the Negroes work on the plantations as free men with a share of the profits.  The local white population treat him as their enemy but Jo comes to see the true goodness of his character and he is instrumental in leading her back to faith in the Lord.
In the end we see mercy and forgiveness triumphing over hatred and bigotry.
It is a sensitively written book and one that teaches us a great deal about relationships in a family, in a community and in a country.




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