
AUTHOR: Cynthia Ruchti
DATE: 2021
PUBLISHER: Revell
STARS: ***
From the back cover:
While her humanitarian husband Liam has been digging wells in Africa, Mara Jacobs has been struggling. She knows she's supposed to feel a warm glow that her husband is nine time zones away, caring for widows and orphans. But the reality is that she is exhausted, working a demanding yet unrewarding job, trying to manage their three detention-prone kids, failing at her to-repair list, and fading like a garment left too long in the sun.
Then Liam's three-year absence turns into something more, changing everything and plunging her into a sunless grief. As Mara struggles to find her footing, she discovers that even when hope is tenuous, faith is fragile, and the future is unknown, we can be sure we are not forgotten . . . or unloved.
My review:
I’ve never done this before. I’m going to review a book I didn’t—no, couldn’t—finish. The book came highly recommended; many readers wiser than I loved it. But for me, the unrelenting, soul-crushing heaviness of the storyline nearly undid me. By the time I got into the eighth chapter, I needed to put the book away.
The prose is flawless, and Mara Jacobs makes a tragic heroine. From the recommendations, light does eventually shine at the end of the long, dark tunnel of woe, but my mental health could not continue on this journey with her. I apologize to the author for that.
If you enjoy tragedies, you may love this book. If, like me, your emotional health is less than prime, bypass this one. I could only give this story three stars. I was given a copy of Facing the Dawn by the publishers.