WHERE FREEDOM GROWS by BONNIE LEON takes place in 1930 during Stalin's rule of terror in Russia and the Great Depression in America. The story is sensitively told and we do indeed see freedom growing in the hearts of Yuri and Tatyana Letinov as they turn to God to help them cope in dreadful circumstances. I am looking forward to finding copies of the sequels in this "Sower" series and also to reading more novels by this very talented author.We see Tatyana struggling to let go of her homeland as she finds a new family in America, and her fierce loyalty to the true Russian people who are not to be judged by the corrupt and murderous dictator who rules them with a rod of iron. There is a sharp contrast between the communist axiom of "for the collective good", in which individuals are cast aside, and the loving goodness that is found in the godly families who work together, sharing what little they have. Although there is poverty in America it is nothing like the poverty in Russia where people are not allowed to keep anything for themselves from what they grow, or to own anything, and are literally starving.
Yuri's story runs parallel to Tatyana's, and it is here that we see unbelievable suffering. We see how God saves him and Elena from the firing squad, the kindness they receive at the hands of Daniel and his family, and the way he is arrested for preaching the Gospel. He struggles with hatred and bitterness and finds it hard to see where God is in all the evil, feeling the Lord has abandoned him.
I can highly recommend this novel.
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