Archive | September 2022

Amulet Of Death by Suzanne Gilchrist

Sep13

A Racing Heart

Amulet Of Death by Suzanne Gilchrist is an exciting dual timeline novel and the first book in the A Bindarra Creek Mystery series. It was a compulsive read.

The book is mainly set in present day but has excerpts and letters dating back to World War I as a family of three sons traveled from Australia to fight in the war. The two time periods are linked as a present day character is writing a history of the area.

Hidden in a dusty attic were artefacts from years ago. Greedy treasure hunters are attracted to the area as their black hearts seek the satisfaction of finding ancient affects.

We cannot always control what happens to us but we can control our response. A character heading the wrong way in life needs to u-turn before life spirals out of control.

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His Sycamore Sweetheart by Stacey Weeks

Sep11

Absolutely Charming

His Sycamore Sweetheart by Stacey Weeks is an absolutely charming contemporary Christian novel. It is the second book in the Sycamore Hill series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The action takes place around the heart of the community – the church. When the church functions as Jesus intended, it is beautiful to see. However, the church is made up of imperfect people, all in need of a Savior, all in need of forgiveness. “The church should be a safe place where everyone felt welcome, but too often it functioned like a social club.” When we take our eyes off Jesus, our vision becomes distorted.

Stacey Weeks has perfectly shown what happens when a church loses its focus. She has created a flawed but realistic environment that is easy to visualise.  It is against this background that characters have got hurt. Unfortunately, gossip has occurred. Gossip is cruel. It needs to be squashed. There is no place for gossip in a healthy church.

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The Soldier’s Daughter by AnneMarie Brear

Sep9

A Kind Heart

The Soldier’s Daughter by AnneMarie Brear is a marvellous historical novel.

The action takes place in 1860 in Bingley near Bradford. It is a time of change as the cotton mills that have profited from the slave trade really need a new way of thinking and operating.

The leading lady and her father have returned from India and bought a large house and grounds. India holds many memories for them and is the place where the mother and grandmother died. We witness the freedom for women in India contrasted to the constraints in Britain.

Evie is a free spirit. She does not let the constraints of Britain squash her upbringing in India. She has a kind heart, often preferring to endanger herself in order to help others. This does not always make her popular.

There is much grief in the novel as modern medicine has not yet been discovered, meaning that lives may well be cut short.

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D.A.N’s Little Book Of War Poetry by D.A. Nicholson

Sep5

Very Sad, Very Powerful

D.A.Ns Little Book Of War Poetry by D.A. Nicholson is absolutely heart breaking and very powerful.

The poems cover the major conflicts since World War I but with a heavy loading set during the war to end all wars.

We hear about the mud, the terror, the gunfire. Under the masterful pen of D.A. Nicholson, the terrible images spring to life as we ‘see’ the desolation of war.

There are a few poems set in Iraq and Vietnam. We hear of the terrible cruelty of the Holocaust. We ‘see’ men being given white feathers and shot for cowardice. We hear of the total futility of war, the terrible loss of lives as men are used for cannon fodder.

All the poems are powerful. The one that really affected me was Bright, Shining Light about the atomic bomb being dropped from Enola Gay. It was accompanied by a drawing of what is now the peace museum. It really shows the futility of war:

“Men, women, and children, getting on with their lives, on this warm summer’s day,

The world changed forever when they dropped the atomic bomb from the Enola Gay.”

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