Enter a historic Nebraskan prison where three women find betrayal, love, and ultimate truth. Jane Prescott is serving a ten-year sentence for murder. Can a broken spirit be healed behind bars? Matron Mamie Dawson feels called to help the wounded women in her charge. Will a guard’s attentions keep her from her mission? Warden’s wife Ellen Sullivan has changed her preconceptions about these female prisoners. Will it be enough to save her from a life-or-death situation? Will the cryptic quilt connecting their lives expose the truth of one woman’s past and ensure a better future for them all?
My Comments: I got tired of reading historical Christian fiction and haven’t read one for a while, but I’m glad I read this book. It hooked me from the very first paragraph and I had a difficult time putting it down.
I don’t really know how realistic this book is, but the story is great! I love the hearts of most of the main characters. I never really thought before about what prison was like in the midwest in the 1800s but this book gives a great picture of what it may have been like for women. The warden and his wife and Doctor Max care in a real way for the prisoners. I find it amazing that the prisoners actually had businesses while incarcerated. They used scissors and other sharp objects and could be trusted. Amazing! I found myself becoming emotionally attached to the characters and crying at times. Maybe there were no real surprising twists in this book, but I enjoyed it and recommend it. I think you will enjoy this book especially if you enjoy historical fiction!
This book will be published March 1, 2012. I received a copy from NetGalley. Thanks!
This post was written bySally and is filed under Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:33 am
Thank you so much for your kind words about this story. Like you, I was amazed to find that women in the 1800s in prison were allowed to use scissors and that they had industries “behind the walls,” but it’s true. Nebraska author Bess Streeter Aldrich’s home has some wicker furniture that was made by prison inmates–I even have a photograph of the factory. And I agree … amazing. I was also amazed to learn that if prisoners swore back then, they were disciplined. The unique world was one of the things that made me want to tell this story. Thanks so much and God bless.