Seek The Light
The Bookshop Of 99 Doors by Jaime Jo Wright is a powerful and compelling Christian dual timeline novel that consumed me from the start.
The action is set in 1888 and in present day in an old house with 99 doors but there is rumoured to be a hundredth door with a portal to another world. Where is it? And what lurks behind it? The narrative in both time periods is similar but different.
Spirits walk amongst us. Characters are searching for answers. They need to put their faith in God and not dabble with the spirits. “Isn’t it safer to reach out to God? Isn’t He the one who created everything? Why give them [spirits] the power over my curiosity when God could have it?” We need to put our trust in God for He is good. Spirits can be meddlesome, and once we open the door, there is no telling who will come in or what they will do. “Even God warns us not to summon the spirits.”
Pray against the spirits, and pray to God. “Her prayers were stilted, her faith uncertain, but when she finished, Millie felt better.” Prayer connects us with God. He renews our minds when we focus on Him.
We meet troubled minds within the book. They have been dabbling in medication which is addictive. Terrible things were seen in the American Civil War. “The war may be over… but it is not silenced.” Minds were broken. “He had seen enough evil… to convince him that if God existed, then God had turned a blind eye to humanity and given them free reign to war against one another.”
It is easy to believe that God has abandoned us but God walks beside us whether we ‘feel’ Him or not. “When you have nothing left… He [God] is all you can rely on.” We can trust God at all times.
When darkness is all around us, we need to seek the light. “God himself had advised… avoidance of the darkness.” We need just a pinprick of light to defeat the darkness. “Sometimes you have to define the darkness before you can step into the light.” We need to recognise what we need to let go of, in order to live the life that God intended for us.
A character is seeking God. “She needed evidence to base her faith on.” If we had evidence there would be no need for faith. We can trust God with our lives. “The more Triss explored what or who God was, the more she wanted to know Him.”
We learn that God does not keep a tally of wrongs. “Did He [God] keep attendance [at church]… if so how many tally marks was a soul allowed to have in the ‘Sundays missed’ column before God moved them into the ‘doomed to damnation’ page?” God longs for us to “cry out for God to save” us.
Jaime Jo Wright has constructed another marvellous tale that draws the reader in from the start. As we ‘walk’ the darkened passageways, our hearts and minds are on full alert. Our responses to the goings on raise the hairs on our heads – but ultimately, we know that we can trust God because He loves us and we are safe in His arms.
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
