Today I am going to share three books that fall in my Mommy Time review or are for adults. The first is a non-fiction book where singer/songwriter Lisa Gungor shares her own experience dealing with love, loss and raising a child with special needs. It is The Most Beautiful Thing I've Seen.
We all have good and bad experiences and times when life seems in total chaos. Perhaps you are just holding on some days and others you are walking on sunshine. The truth is this is life and if we slow down and think and look we see the beauty of the world God created for us. Our chaos and demands are mixed with those amazing moments where life is so good. It takes one's faith to see the good some days, but it is there. This book is moving and powerful. It is an interesting journey to follow. It is her journey and it may not lead you to your own beliefs or even strengthen your beliefs, but it is her life and what she discovered along the way.
Our next book is a very moving novel by Elizabeth Byler Younts. It is The Solace of Water. Talk about a moving novel. It has grief, forgiveness, love, race relations, friendships, God, and multicultural. It has it all. The story goes between three of the main characters: Emma, a white Amish woman, Delilah, a black mother who has lost a young son and moved up north, and her daughter, Sparrow, who is blamed for her young brother's death. The black family moved back to the father's hometown in Pennsylvania. He got a job as a pastor there and thought the change would be good for the family after the tragedy. They rent a house owned by a white man who was one of his childhood friends. The woods connects to Emma's house. The family's meet in unusual ways and Sparrow is drawn to the Amish family and Emma and her son, Johnny, are drawn to Sparrow. The Amish do not see any difference between black and white and do not understand the Englishers ways around race. This book is set in a time when the South was still segregated. The black family is getting use to the non-segregated North and learning that there might not be signs but there was still racism. Emma and her family have their own grief and secrets.
The story takes you on the journey of the discovery of different cultures, grief, friendship and forgiveness. The growth of each character is interesting and amazing. You feel for each of them in their times of need. The characters are well developed and the cultures are explored in great detail. It is a good read and moves you as it draws you into the characters' lives.
Our final book is a mystery that is perfect for quilters. It is The Rose Quilt by Mark Pasquini. It takes place in the 1920's. A wealthy woman who is also a quilter gets murdered with a pair of quilting shears and there may be clues on the quilt. Can investigator Steve Walsh figure out who did it? There are a large number of suspects. Her adopted children, her committee and more. This is a historical fiction mystery with a quilting twist. It is perfect for quilters, mystery lovers as well as historical fiction lovers. I love the twist with the quilt. Can you solve the mystery before Steve does?
Three very different books but all of them are wonderful. I hope you will check each one out.
