Calling Out The Best

The Sisters Of Sea View by Julie Klassen is a marvellous Christian historical novel that I really loved. It is the first book in On Devonshire Shores and I cannot wait for the subsequent books.

The action is set at the beginning of the nineteenth century in Sidmouth in Devon, as we join four sisters and their ailing mother. Their financial situation has forced them to open their home to paying guests. The girls all pull together. They all have different talents and personalities but they all need each other. This reminds the reader that we are stronger together. They all have their individual roles which contribute to the whole.

Unique personalities stay at the guest house. They enter as strangers and leave as friends – that is, if they leave at all.

Grief manifests itself in various ways. Sometimes there are physical symptoms. A character needs to find a purpose and reasons to get out of bed again.

Life leaves scars – sometimes they are physical and sometimes they are mental. We meet characters who try to hide their scars. They fear that people will be repulsed by their scars – but true beauty lies within. “I was wrong to put so much value in surface things.” Our inner goodness will always shine through.