Then Sings My Soul

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Then Sings My Soul David C. Cook (March 1, 2015) by Amy Sorrells

MY THOUGHTS:
Then Sings My Soul is a difficult book to categorize -- it has a bit of everything! History, romance, mystery, tragedy, and the spirit of overcoming. From a historical perspective it covers at time and place not often seen -- Russia during the pogroms of the early 1900's.

The book flips back and forth between those days, when Jakob Stewart was just four years old in Russia, to the 1990's when he is broken by the death of his wife and begins suffering dementia. His daughter, Nel, comes home for her mother's funeral and finds that she needs to stay to care for her father. A lost letter to her mother unveils some mystery about her father's past that she is determined to discover, regardless of his efforts to keep it buried.

I really enjoyed the story line of this book. It was, however, a bit difficult for me to read. There are a lot of extraneous words, sentences, and even paragraphs that don't do much to provide background or move the story forward. I admit I almost gave up reading it in the middle because of this, but I was really intrigued by Jakob's story. I found that his flashbacks were more enjoyable than the other sections, and I scanned the paragraphs instead of devouring every word. I would like to have seen a bit more on the developing relationship between Nel and ...well the character she develops a relationship with (no spoiler here!).

That said, I'm VERY glad I read to the end. The storyline is well crafted and I highly recommend reading it all! This is a good book for the beach or times when you aren't able to read the book in one sitting. The author blurb on the back of the book (different than the one below) indicates that Amy Sorrells "writes about the healing of broken places in the world and the heart". That is very true in Then Sings My Soul.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

An Indianapolis native and graduate of DePauw University, Amy lives with her husband, three boys and a gaggle of golden retrievers in central Indiana. After writing and editing for her college newspaper, she combined a nursing degree with journalism and creative writing, which led to publishing and editing a wide array of medical and nursing writing and multimedia projects over the past 21 years, a position as director of communications of her church’s children’s ministry, as well as a weekly column for a local newspaper which ran from 2009-2012. She has been a two-time semi-finalist for the ACFW Genesis awards, and was the winner of the 2011 Women of Faith writing contest.

When she’s not reading or writing, Amy loves spending time with her three sons; spicy lunches and art gallery walks with her husband; digging in her garden sans gloves; walking her dogs; up-cycling old furniture and junk; photography; and friends.


ABOUT THE BOOK

When Nel Stewart returns home due to the sudden death of her mother, she realizes her beloved father, Jakob, is struggling with dementia. With the reappearance of a high-school sweetheart, deliveries from Ukraine addressed to her, and the discovery of a mysterious, vintage aquamarine gemstone, Nel senses God is pulling her into the past to restore their faith and their futures. Told partially through Jakob's flashbacks of fleeing genocide-ridden eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, the novel combines elements of mystery, history, faith and romance to reveal how God redeems the broken years ... and our future.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Then Sings My Soul, go HERE.

Thank you to David C Cook for providing a copy of this book for my honest review.