REDEMPTION

Author: Carolyn Davidson ISBN: 0373771495 1/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: HQN
Time Period: 1877, 1880

Jake McPherson needed a bride... He was a Civil War veteran, wounded in body and soul. And when his wife died unexpectedly, he retreated from life, craving only solitude and his happy memories. But his young son needed a mother's love and guidance—even if Jake wanted no woman himself. So who better to choose than the town's spinster schoolmarm? Alicia Merriweather wanted so much to love... She had come to warn Jake his son was running wild. But she stayed because beneath his gruff exterior she saw Jake's pain and loneliness. Having borne the brunt of ridicule all her life, tall, plain Alicia understood both all too well. But could Jake ever learn to share his home and his heart?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

REDEMPTION revolves around a widowed and paralyzed Civil War veteran, his rambunctious six-year-old son, and a Plain Jane spinster school teacher who decides to take both father and son under her wing. It's a story that shows just how powerful and healing the power of unconditional love can be.

Jake, the veteran, comes home from the Civil War to his wife, Lorena, and their son, Jason. Though gravely wounded, Lorena accepts Jake for the man he is now and their marriage is a contented one. After a few years, Lorena succumbs to illness, leaving an embittered and depressed Jake to raise their son alone. Lost in his own self-pity and self-loathing, he fails to see that the unintentional mental neglect of his son has left Jason a mischievous and wild young man.

Enter Alicia, a plain but practical woman who can give as good as she gets. She confronts Jake about his son, but after a rude and frustrating meeting, understands the reasons why Jason acts the way he does. Knowing that Jason has no mother figure in his life, Alicia decides to intervene and do what she can to befriend the young boy and his father. After a few more visits, Jake, realizing that what Jason needs is a full-time mother, offers Alicia a marriage of convenience. She accepts, deciding that even though it will be a marriage in name only, it is her one chance of having the real family she always thought she'd never have.

In REDEMPTION, Ms. Davidson has written a forceful, yet gentle romance of wounded souls and battered hearts in situations that can very well apply in today's world. I highly recommend it.

Nancy Davis