I saw from the look on her face that she was
going through the same struggle I had the morning before – thinking it must all
have been a dream. And now she’d come down to find her dream looking at her
from the stove where her mama should have been instead. The sight of me caused
her whole world-the one that a night’s sleep had put back together in her brain
– to crumble. If there’s any second day could be worse than the first, it’s
from having the reality of the nightmare plunge its knife into your heart all
over again. And then it’s worse, because you for sure that it’s just as bad as
you thought. Whatever tiny bit of hope you were clinging to suddenly vanishes
into thin air.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Target Audience: Girls 16+
Subjects: Civil War, Slavery, Friendship, Faith, Prayer
Summary: They’re all dead. Mayme’s whole family and
Katie’s whole family. All the slaves, all the masters. The Maurder’s killed
them all. All that’s left from the two huge plantations are two teenage girls,
one black, one white. They’re determined to keep anyone from knowing that
though. When Mayme finds fifteen year old Katie standing in the midst of the
dead bodies looking helpless and lost, she stays and helps Katie right her
world again, intending to see her turned over to whatever relatives will take
care of Katie. Katie has other plans though. She has no intention of living
with any of her relatives or leaving the plantation. And she certainly has no
intention of letting the best friend she’s ever had go away! They know though,
that anyone who finds the two of them alone together will put an end to their
plans in an instant. And there is danger still. Enemies with guns, searching
for hidden wealth come thinking to raid the plantation. It’s going to take
nothing short of a miracle for these girls to survive!
Notes: Angels Watching Over Me is the first in the Shenandoah
Sisters series. The series tells how two 16 year old girls survive after the
Massacre of Shenandoah County – where a gang of outlaw Confederate deserters
killed a bunch of people. In this story, everyone on the two plantations they
live on is killed. Mayme mindlessly wanders away and finds herself at Katie’s
plantation just as Katie comes up from the cellar she hid in. The two girls
stick together out of necessity for a couple of day and become close friends.
Towards the end of the book they make the decision to fool people into
believing Katie’s family is still alive. This book sets up the whole story for the series. It also sets up the spiritual foundation. Finding their mother’s Bibles causes the girls to seek God and ask for His help. Both girls ask Jesus into their hearts. Mayme feels God speaking to her, telling her to stay at Rosewod with Katie.
The issue of prejudice is dealt with as well in this story. Neither girl is really bothered by the other one’s skin color, but Mayme is extremely aware of her place in society and how others will view their friendship and explains to Katie that she’ll be lynched if anyone finds out that she’s living like a white woman in the house with Katie. When another character enters the story, Mayme shows some hints of prejudice towards whites, but it winds up being more jealousy than prejudice.
I highly recommend this series.
Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5
Reviewer:
J:-)mi
Galatians
5:13 – You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your
freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment