I have been reading a totally engrossing novel. While I love the story and the characters, the setting is what has fueled my imagination. A Tapestry of Light is Kimberly Duffy‘s sophomore novel. Her debut, A Mosaic of Wings, was partially set in India in the late 1880s. That book opened a new world for me, but it is with her second book that I can immerse myself in the sights, sounds, and even smells of historic India. The main character is Anglo-Indian or as termed in the past, Eurasian. Her viewpoint combined with the lushly detailed narrative has enchanted me. That brings me to my question for discussion:
Do you often read novels set in unfamiliar locations?
I am a big fan of learning something new while reading. That does not often translate into settings I would term unfamiliar — a place that is vastly different from what I encounter in day to day life with differing customs, foods, dress, etc. I have read a few books that would fit that description, but most were historical fiction. Here are a few:
Set in the Holy Land, the island of Nevis, and Australia, respectively, they featured a time and place I was unfamiliar with. I think that learning about the history of a place helps me understand its modern-day world. A Tapestry of Light is a great view into India under British rule and gives some insight into what it is today.
What do you like about an unfamiliar setting?
In researching this topic, I found most of the contemporary books I have read feature missions, which is good. But I think I would like some that feature more of the day to day life of those who are citizens of the locales. Here are a few contemporary books that have unfamiliar settings. Of the three I have featured, only Two Destinies does not have a missions connection.
Let me know what you think. And I’d love some book recommendations!
This week’s Top 10 Tuesday challenge is to list books with colors in their titles. There are a lot more than I expected! I limited my list to books I have read or that reside on my TBR shelf (Kindle or actual), but the list is still really long 😉 .
This week on Top 10 Tuesday we are talking books that took us out of our comfort zone. I generally think of new genres when hearing out of comfort zone reads, but today I am going to highlight books with difficult subject matter. The books on my list are beautifully written and touched my heart, but were definitely not light and easy reads. They focus on the difficulties of life — the things we hope never to experience. Why read books like this? To challenge, to inform, to engage our sympathies (and empathy), to make us uncomfortable. But lest you think these selections are going to leave you feeling worse than when you started them, please know they are filled with grace and redemption. If you haven’t read some on my list, I hope you find one that will speak to your heart.
When Annie Jacobson’s brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know.
In Mike’s absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike’s safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. In the tumult of this time, Annie and her family grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Author Susie Finkbeiner invites you into the Jacobson family’s home and hearts during a time in which the chaos of the outside world touched their small community in ways they never imagined.
Before I Saw You by Amy K. Sorrells
Folks are dying fast as the ash trees in the southern Indiana town ravaged by the heroin epidemic, where Jaycee Givens lives with nothing more than a thread of hope and a quirky neighbor, Sudie, who rescues injured wildlife. After a tragedy leaves her mother in prison, Jaycee is carrying grief and an unplanned pregnancy she conceals because she trusts no one, including the kind and handsome Gabe, who is new to town and to the local diner where she works.
Dividing her time between the diner and Sudie’s place, Jaycee nurses her broken heart among a collection of unlikely friends who are the closest thing to family that she has. Eventually, she realizes she can’t hide her pregnancy any longer―not even from the baby’s abusive father, who is furious when he finds out. The choices she must make for the safety of her unborn child threaten to derail any chance she ever had for hope and redemption. Ultimately, Jaycee must decide whether the truest form of love means hanging on or letting go.
How Sweet The Sound by Amy K. Sorrells
Wealth and etiquette can hide a lot of things in the South, as the esteemed Harlan family of sleepy Bay Spring, Alabama, knows. But behind the gentle facade of white pillared porches and acres of cultivated pecan orchards, family secrets smolder.
Young Anniston Harlan cares little for high society and the rigid rules and expectations of her grandmother, Princella. She finds solace working the orchards alongside her father and grandfather, and relief in the cool waters of Mobile Bay.
Anniston’s aunt, Comfort Harlan, has never quite lived up to the family name, or so her mother Princella’s ever-apparent scowl implies. When she gleefully accepts the proposal of her longtime boyfriend, Solly, a flood tide of tragedy ensues that strips Comfort of her innocence and unleashes generations of family secrets, changing the Harlan family forever.
While Comfort struggles to recover, Anniston discovers an unlikely new friend from the seedy part of town who helps her try to make sense of the chaos. Together, they and the whole town of Bay Spring discover how true love is a risk, but one worth taking.
Land of Silence by Tessa Afshar
Before Christ called her daughter . . .
Before she stole healing by touching the hem of his garment . . .
Elianna is a young girl crushed by guilt. After her only brother is killed while in her care, Elianna tries to earn forgiveness by working for her father’s textile trade and caring for her family. When another tragedy places Elianna in sole charge of the business, her talent for design brings enormous success, but never the absolution she longs for. As her world unravels, she breaks off her betrothal to the only man she will ever love. Then illness strikes, isolating Elianna from everyone, stripping everything she has left.
No physician can cure her. No end is in sight. Until she hears whispers of a man whose mere touch can heal. After so many years of suffering and disappointment, is it possible that one man could redeem the wounds of body . . . and soul?
Lead Me Home By Amy K. Sorrells
Amid open fields and empty pews, small towns can crush big dreams.
Abandoned by his no-good father and forced to grow up too soon, Noble Burden has set his dreams aside to run the family farm. Meanwhile, James Horton, the pastor of the local church, questions his own calling as he prepares to close the doors for good.
As a severe storm rolls through, threatening their community and very livelihood, both men fear losing what they care about most . . . and reconsider where they truly belong.
The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke
For fans of bestselling World War II fiction like Sarah’s Key and The Nightingale comes an illuminating tale of courage, sacrifice, and survival, about two couples whose lives are ravaged by Hitler’s mad war yet eventually redeemed through the fate of one little girl.
Seemingly overnight, the German blitzkrieg of Warsaw in 1939 turns its streets to a war zone and shatters the life of each citizen — Polish, Jewish, or otherwise. Sophie Kumiega, a British bride working in the city’s library, awaits news of her husband, Janek, recently deployed with the Polish Air Force. Though Sophie is determined that she and the baby in her womb will stay safe, the days ahead will draw her into the plight of those around her, compelling her to help, whatever the danger.
Rosa and Itzhak Dunovich never imagined they would welcome their longed-for first child in the Jewish ghetto, or that they would let anything tear their family apart. But as daily atrocities intensify, Rosa soon faces a terrifying reality: to save their daughter’s life, she must send her into hiding. Her only hope of finding her after the war — if any of them survive — is a medallion she cuts in half and places around her neck.
Inspired by true events of Poland’s darkest days and brightest heroes, The Medallion paints a stunning portrait of war and its aftermath, daring us to believe that when all seems lost, God can make a way forward.
My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay
Right up until the day they burned the church, I thought I understood things. You know… God, people, myself. Life. Then, suddenly, I understood nothing except that we had to run. And that we might never make it home.
When eighteen-year-old Cori signed up for a mission trip to Indonesia she was mostly thinking about escaping her complicated love life, making new friends, and having fun on the beach.
She never expected a civil war to flare up on the nearby island of Ambon.
She never expected violence to find them.
And she never expected that seven teenagers would be forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the mountains on their own.
Now, haunted by blood and fire, Cori and her teammates must rely on each other to survive.
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
Challenging perceptions of discrimination and prejudice, this emotionally resonant drama for readers of Lisa Wingate and Jodi Picoult explores three different women navigating challenges in a changing school district — and in their lives.
When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray — the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser — faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jones–the first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridge’s top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation she’s stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as “this” or “that”, when such complexity exists in each person?
We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels
When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange request–that she look up a relative she didn’t know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos — seems like it isn’t worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself with nothing but time.
At her great-aunt’s 150-year-old farmhouse north of Detroit, Elizabeth uncovers a series of mysterious items, locked doors, and hidden graves. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. And as Elizabeth soon discovers, the past is never as past as we might like to think.
Debut novelist Erin Bartels takes readers on an emotional journey through time — from the volatile streets of 1960s Detroit to the Michigan’s Underground Railroad during the Civil War — to uncover the past, confront the seeds of hatred, and discover where love goes to hide.
When The Heart Sings by Liz Tolsma
Natia has a secret, and she’s hiding him right beneath her captor’s nose . . .
The Nazis have forced Natia and Teodor from their Polish farm to a labor camp. When the couple is separated, Natia is chosen to be the housekeeper for the camp’s overseer, and Teodor is sent to work in the factory. Despite the strict camp rules — and the consequences for disobeying them — Natia finds a way to communicate with Teodor by sending messages through song as she passes Teodor’s dormitory.
The stakes get higher when Natia finds a Jewish orphan on the overseer’s doorstep. She is determined to protect the boy and raise him as the child she and her husband were unable to bear — but if her German captors discover how much she’s hiding, both she and Teodor may pay the ultimate price.
I read a number of new-to-me and debut authors in 2018. Great books all! And a promise of more great books to come! Because I am an eclectic reader, you will find romance, women’s fiction, dual-time stories, mystery, and suspense in the mix — something for just about everyone. I hope you find a new-to-you author to enjoy.
I am bowled over by the number of excellent books I read in 2018! It was very, very, very hard to come up with a list of the best, let alone trying to limit it to just 10! So I cheated (of course) and made two Top 10 Lists — one contemporary and one historical. And before you say but, but . . . I know that three of the books on the historical list are dual timelines, but without the historical component, the book would not have existed. There is also plenty of suspense and romance — really something for everyone on this list. Those with an asterisk were book club books that got unanimous thumbs up! I hope you find one or two (or all) that will pique your interest.
Right up until the day they burned the church, I thought I understood things. You know… God, people, myself. Life. Then, suddenly, I understood nothing except that we had to run. And that we might never make it home.
When eighteen-year-old Cori signed up for a mission trip to Indonesia she was mostly thinking about escaping her complicated love life, making new friends, and having fun on the beach.
She never expected a civil war to flare up on the nearby island of Ambon.
She never expected violence to find them.
And she never expected that seven teenagers would be forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the mountains on their own.
Now, haunted by blood and fire, Cori and her teammates must rely on each other to survive.
Lisa McKay is an author and psychologist specializing in stress, trauma, and resilience. She is currently living in Laos. You can connect with Lisa at LisaMcKayWriting, FB, Twitter, and Goodreads.
My Impressions:
Lisa McKay’s debut novel (re-released in 2018) My Hands Came Away Red, takes the reader from the highs of a mission trip to a beautiful and exotic locale to horror, fear, and anger at God. This powerful YA suspense novel is achingly beautiful in its depiction of 6 young westerners forced to rely on each other to survive a nightmare in Indonesia. The author describes her book as a work of passion, and that comes through loud and clear in the first person narrative that takes the reader on an emotional journey along with the characters. And even though I am far away from my YA years, I loved this book. It is a very highly recommended read.
Cori is confused about her life — relationships, college choices — when she embarks on a grueling mission trip to build a church in a remote part of the world. Boot camp bonds the team and prepares them for their challenging task — or so they thought. Following the victory of finishing the small village church comes the devastation of death and destruction the team could never imagine. Cori’s narrative describes the highs and lows the team faces, along with the changes in their own understanding of life and God. The characters are all well-developed and become so very real to the reader. Of course Cori is the main focus, but McKay does a great job of bringing all the characters to life. There is plenty of drama, suspense, danger, and life-and-death moments to keep the pages turning. But it is the faith journey that the characters are forced to take that spoke to my heart. As the team’s situation deteriorates through illness, fatigue, dehydration, etc., their faith in God suffers as well. It is hard to maintain thankfulness and forgiveness when faced with extreme privation. And even the return to the safety of home does not bring the healing they expect.
There is a lot to discuss in My Hands Came Away Red, making this novel a great choice for a youth group or book club. It is a great springboard for conversations about the plight of believers around the world, the real meaning of a missional life, and the faithfulness of God even when we can’t or won’t see it. And don’t let the YA label fool you, adults are going to love this one too.
Very Highly Recommended.
Audience: older teens and adults.
To purchase, click HERE. (It is currently FREE for Kindle Unlimited!)
(I purchased a copy of this book from Amazon. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Happy Friday! I am happy to be sharing the first line from Lisa McKay‘s re-released novel, My Hands Came Away Red. I am eager to read this book in the coming weeks. The opening line of the Prologue sets the stage for a riveting read.
Please share the first line of the book nearest you and then head over to Hoarding Books for more fabulous first lines!
Right up until the day they burned the church, I thought I understood things. You know… God, people, myself. Life. Then, suddenly, I understood nothing except that we had to run. And that we might never make it home.
When eighteen-year-old Cori signed up for a mission trip to Indonesia she was mostly thinking about escaping her complicated love life, making new friends, and having fun on the beach.
She never expected a civil war to flare up on the nearby island of Ambon.
She never expected violence to find them.
And she never expected that seven teenagers would be forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the mountains on their own.
Now, haunted by blood and fire, Cori and her teammates must rely on each other to survive.
Praised by Publishers Weekly as “fast-paced,” “thought-provoking,” and one of the “best novels of the year,” My Hands Came Away Red will take you deep into the jungle with Cori as she desperately searches for answers and a safe way home.
Lisa McKay is an author and psychologist specializing in stress, trauma, and resilience. She is currently living in Laos. You can connect with Lisa at LisaMcKayWriting, FB, Twitter, and Goodreads.
I am excited to spotlight My Hands Came AwayRedby Lisa McKay. Lisa is re-releasing her debut novel this month. A product of her passion, this was a novel that Lisa says she needed to write. Check it out! Lisa has some more exciting news to share, so make sure you visit her sites (links below).
Right up until the day they burned the church, I thought I understood things. You know… God, people, myself. Life. Then, suddenly, I understood nothing except that we had to run. And that we might never make it home.
When eighteen-year-old Cori signed up for a mission trip to Indonesia she was mostly thinking about escaping her complicated love life, making new friends, and having fun on the beach.
She never expected a civil war to flare up on the nearby island of Ambon.
She never expected violence to find them.
And she never expected that seven teenagers would be forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the mountains on their own.
Now, haunted by blood and fire, Cori and her teammates must rely on each other to survive.
Praised by Publishers Weekly as “fast-paced,” “thought-provoking,” and one of the “best novels of the year,” My Hands Came Away Red will take you deep into the jungle with Cori as she desperately searches for answers and a safe way home.
Lisa McKay is an author and psychologist specializing in stress, trauma, and resilience. She is currently living in Laos. You can connect with Lisa at LisaMcKayWriting, FB, Twitter, and Goodreads.
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Right up until the day they burned the church, I thought I understood things. You know… God, people, myself. Life. Then, suddenly, I understood nothing except that we had to run. And that we might never make it home.
Lisa McKay is an author and psychologist specializing in stress, trauma, and resilience. She is currently living in Laos. You can connect with Lisa at 
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