CBA best-selling author Kim Vogel Sawyer has won multiple awards, including the Carol and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. A Home in Drayton Valley is a tale of keeping the faith in the face of great uncertainty. In 1880, Tarsie Raines is traveling from New York to Kansas with the Brubachers: Joss, Mary, and their two children. Along the way, tragedy strikes, leaving Tarsie and Joss alone to face an unthinkable crisis - and only God's love to guide them forward.
""A Home in Drayton Valley" seems like the answer to a prayer for three troubled souls in Kim Vogel Sawyer's thoughtful, inspirational historical romance. The rough-and-tumble world of the New York City dock area of the late 1800s is a place of despair for Tarsie Raines--so far removed from the beauty of her native Ireland. On her own after her great-aunt passed away, Tarsie found a true friendship with Mary Brubacher, a young married woman with two children. Tarsie loved Mary's children, Emmy and Nathaniel, but she had little care for their father, Josh. A hard worker, who drank and gambled just as hard as he worked, Josh seemed to show little care for his family. His own harsh childhood dominated by his father's rantings and prejudices had left Josh deeply conflicted. Mary had been the one shining light in his life, but her progressive illness had changed the course of their lives. Tarsie, a practitioner of herbal healing, taught by her great-aunt, often tended Mary during her times of sickness. By chance, one day Tarsie finds a discarded copy of a guidebook extolling the opportunities for a better life in the booming Mecca of Drayton Valley, Kansas. Tarsie persuades Mary to read the book, and the two of them determine that the way West is best for all of them. Josh is harder to convince, but his gambling debts and Mary's plea for their family make him change his mind. The journey begins, but Mary's illness is far worse than she had revealed. On her death-bead, she extracts a promise from Tarsie to always care for her children and Josh. In his grief over Mary's death, Joss decides that he must place the children in an orphanage. Tarsie is stunned, and in desperation, she asks Josh to marry her so that they can take care of the children. Josh reluctantly agrees, and so they are married, but Josh is keeping a shameful secret from Tarsie. A woman of great faith, and great heart, Tarsie tries to hold her new family together, but does fate have other plans for them all? Will the unexpected love she feels for Josh ever be returned by him? "A Home in Drayton Valley" is character-rich, with surprising twists and turns, and compelling historical detail. Many issues are dealt with including prejudice, alcohol abuse, gambling addiction, and the spiritual freedom of loving others more than you love yourself.
Review Copy Gratis Bethany House Books"
—
Virginia (5 out of 5 stars)