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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Book Review: BEYOND THE VALLEY by Rita Gerlach


Rita, I loved the way you wound the thread in Beyond the Valley so skillfully in and around the fabric of the rest of the Daughers of the Potomac Series. Great job!

When her husband tries to salvage goods from a shipwreck on the Cornish coast, Sarah Carr finds herself a widow with a baby on the way and no means of support. Her husband told her if anything ever happened to him she must go to his sister and her husband.

Perhaps not the best advice. The sister is only interested in unpaid help. The sister's husband, however, doesn't want to support not only the widow but also a child, free housekeeping or not. When he commiserates with an acquaintance at a nearby tavern, Mr. Sawyer proposes selling her as a bonded servant in the colonies. A ship just happens to be leaving for America that evening.

In the rough seas of the Atlantic, Sarah loses her baby son when he is born too early. At the mouth of the Potomac, she is sold to the highest bidder. For the first time her impediment--one leg shorter than the other--is actually a blessing. She avoids being sold into the hands of a man who might misuse her and instead becomes the servant of an older woman.

The Woodhouse family has a neighbor who dies in the American Revolution. His brother, Dr. Alex Hutton, arrives to find the widow dying and the twin daughters near starvation. After his sister-in-law dies, Alex visits the Woodhouse family and asks if Sarah can come help him with the children until his aunt arrives.

Ah, yes, you guessed it--they fall in love. This book epitomizes the saying that true love never runs smooth. Woodhouse loses his fortune and sells everything--including Sarah. The man who takes her might have been kind enough, but gets himself killed. And that's just the beginning...

Beyond the Valley is one you just might like to read. Available from Christian Book Distributors, Amazon, and Barnes and Nobel. Click on your favorite store to be linked to the spot where you can buy a copy.

OR: Leave your name and email in a comment below to be entered to win a signed copy of that book. If you return to this blog (A Pew Perspecive) tomorrow, you can read an interview with Rita Gerlach giving more details on the rest of her books. We will choose two winners from commenters on this one and the one tomorrow, and those two winners will be able to select any one of Rita's five books. Rita also tells me she'd be happy to send bookmarkers to anyone who would like one. The comment must be left by Monday, March 25, 5 pm Pacific. Please--winners must live in the US or Canada. Postage is too astronomical elsewhere!


5 comments:

Elizabeth Dent said...

Rita love your review. I would love to be entered into the contest for Beyond The Valley . Thank you.
Elizabeth
lizd225(at)gmail(dot)com

Anne Baxter Campbell said...

You are entered!
~Anne

Patty said...

I read 'The Rebel's Pledge' but have not read any of this series. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

pattymh2000(at)yahoo(dot)com

Shopgirl said...

This sounds like a fascinating book! shopgirl152nykiki(at)yahoo(dot)com

Anne Baxter Campbell said...

We have winners from the two days' blogs:
Kathleen Belongia and Patty Hamblin

Be sure to clap and cheer for them loudly enough for the neighbors to hear...and may you be the winners next time.
God bless
~Anne