Engrossing & Entertaining

The Premonition At Withers Farm by Jaime Jo Wright is a powerful Christian dual timeline novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a compelling murder mystery suspense too.

The action is set in 1910 and present day. The two periods are linked by buildings and ancestors. In 1910 there were two murders and an attack. Present day saw another murder, and in 1982 a young woman went missing. Seemingly isolated events but is there a link? There seems to be no peace and rest until answers are found.

God speaks through dreams. Can it be that He also gives us visions whilst we are awake?

A character is drowning in grief following several miscarriages. “The daily task of surviving when she felt the overwhelming cloud of death surrounding her.” Death seems to attach itself to her, as there are even old gravestones in the basement of her new house. We learn that “grief is a shadow man that follows us into our futures and swallows it up if we let him.” Our grief will always be with us. We need to learn how to live with it.

Our faith is tested when our prayers seem unanswered. “God had become more distant, since He had chosen not to answer her pleas for her father’s life.” God will always answer our prayers. “What you think isn’t always what is.” We need to trust God’s leading.

We see a character floundering. “The truth was, she was lost.” We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and trust that He is good even though we cannot see past our present circumstances.

“To have faith to move forward, she needed to have faith there was stable ground beneath her.”  We can trust God to hold us up. He will make something beautiful from our messy lives. “Life was waiting to be discovered from the ashes. It was time to stop burying herself and to live.” Life is for living.

All the characters were well drawn and believable. They were an eclectic mix.

 I thoroughly enjoyed The Premonition At Withers Farm. It was an engrossing read.

JULIA WILSON