MY REVIEW:
When the Meadow Blooms is a tale from Ann Gabhart that will wring out the reader’s heart yet leave her filled with hope. I so enjoyed this story of the Meadows family, left to survive on their own after the death of husband and father – that is until the mother Rose is diagnosed with tuberculosis and must recuperate in a sanitorium. Thinking she will be well in a few weeks, she leaves her two daughters in an orphanage, not knowing how mistreated they will be. In desperation they turn to her husband’s brother, a recluse who usually avoids people at all costs.
It was wonderful to observe as Rose and her daughters gradually worked their magic on Dirk’s wounded heart and the change that was wrought in each of them as they slowly became the family each of them needed. The steady plot takes the reader on an unforgettable emotional journey with the Meadows family as they find their way to Meadowland.
When the Meadow Blooms was a delight to read and I highly recommend it.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Hope blooms at Meadowland
If any place on God’s earth was designed to help one heal, it is Meadowland. Surely here, at her brother-in-law’s Kentucky farm, Rose and her daughters can recover from the events of the recent past–the loss of her husband during the 1918 influenza epidemic, her struggle with tuberculosis that required a stay at a sanatorium, and her girls’ experience in an orphanage during her illness. At Meadowland, past troubles become rich soil in which faith can grow.
Dirk Meadows may have opened his home to his late brother’s widow and her girls, but he keeps his heart tightly closed. The roots of his pain run deep, and the evidence of it is written across his face. Badly scarred by a fire and abandoned by the woman he loved, Dirk fiercely guards his heart from being hurt again.
But it may be that his visitors will bring light back into his world and unlock the secret to true healing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of Along a Storied Trail, An Appalachian Summer, River to Redemption, These Healing Hills, and Angel Sister, along with several Shaker novels–The Refuge, The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, and The Gifted. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm’s fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.
