Tag Archive | Austin Macauley Publishers

Life Without My Family: Lone Survivor Of Eleven Children: Overcoming Grief With Faith by Sophie Scenic-Daniels

Oct10

Inspiring

Life Without My Family: Lone Survivor Of Eleven Children: Overcoming Grief With Faith by Sophie Scenic-Daniels is an inspiring account of a life lived well, loving God throughout all the challenging scenes of life.

The author had a good role model in her Mum. “My mother lost seven children, then lost her husband, but never blamed God. She instead lived a life of prayer.” Prayer is important. Prayer is a bridge to God. Prayer is powerful. “My Mum was a prayer warrior.” When we do not know what else to do, we should pray. We need to pray in the good times and we need to pray in the bad. We need to live a life of prayer.

We need to live a life of love too, knowing that God is love. We are called to show people who do not know Jesus, His love. We must act in love at all times, and never sit in judgement.

When we seek God, He will be found. “I sought God… and… found Him… This… took away the emptiness.” The author has suffered so much loss. She could have gone under with grief but instead she sought out God. “Faith become[s] the anchor.” We all need an anchor, and what better anchor to have than God?

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The Gate In The Fence by Bob Menzies

Oct10

Unpredictable

 The Gate In The Fence by Bob Menzies is a contemporary crime suspense that intrigued me from the start.

This had a cleverly constructed plotline which I did not predict. The perpetrator revealed themselves at the start but the ‘why’ was not obvious. As the reader hangs on, all will be revealed in due course.

We see that human beings are a complex mix – not so much black and white but a murky grey. Lines of morality blur between what is acceptable and what is not. We see that people are not wholly ‘good’ or wholly ‘bad.’

The action takes place in a suburban neighbourhood but what goes on behind closed doors is far from ordinary and expected.

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To The Western Front With Love by Verity Slaughter-Penney

Oct4

All The Same

To The Western Front With Love by Verity Slaughter-Penney is a powerful YA novel showing the futility of war.

The novel takes place in the years immediately preceding World War I and also from the outbreak of war to December 1914.

We see the build up and the early months from both the British and the German sides as we follow three young men – two British and one Bavarian. Both sides in war have parallel lives – young men brought up in the countryside with a love of animals and no desire to fight. They are medics, believing in saving lives not ending them.

The plotline is cleverly constructed as the reader is committed to the lives and welfare of all three young men. They all have families who love their sons and do not want to lose them.

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A Foot In Both Camps by Arrabella Williams

Sep26

A Powerful Read

A Foot In Both Camps by Arrabella Williams is a heart-wrenching YA novel suitable for ages ten years and over.

The novel follows Susie, a young girl with Jamaican heritage but born in Britain. Her parents were part of the Windrush generation. We see her struggles as she has a foot in both camps – her father clings to his Jamaican roots whereas her mother tries to assimilate the family into the local community – first in Northampton and then in Birmingham.

Susie’s household is ruled by her father who is a cruel man, beating his children and his wife as he believes it is the Jamaican way. My heart went out to Susie. She is a little girl with a big personality who deserves to be loved.

I had much empathy for Susie and found her easy to identify with – I also grew up in Birmingham, learn to read with the Ladybird scheme of Peter and Jane, and watched Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds. I was also in a class of 40 with wooden desks and inkwells. For me, A Foot In Both Camps was very much a walk down memory lane.

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