cherryblossommj
Written on Mar 13, 2012
*sigh* When I read [b:Surrender the Wind|6400374|Surrender the Wind|Rita Gerlach|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266679226s/6400374.jpg|6589084] in August 2009 I was enthralled, enchanted and craving for more from the language and imagery. At that time I felt the book went a little too fast and wanted more detail, but as I said then in 400 pages an author can only provide so much. I loved that book and knowing that was a debut I couldn't wait to see what might come next. Now, now I know you want my opinion, but wait. In the afternoon, I watched a rented movie from Netflix, it was Australia with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. I had briefly seen previews and was not very interested, but I'm on a Hugh Jackman kick and it was necessary. Oh my. I'll provide a real review of it later if I can form the words, but in short there was so much to happen, so much to absorb and learn from and experience along with the characters. It was a film that made me cry harder than I have in a while for a movie and afterwards you just have to kinda sit in silence to try to really take in everything. That is how I feel after reading Before the Scarlet Dawn.
While Surrender the Wind had more people and city interaction, outside of the very first introduction chapters Before the Scarlet Dawn takes place in a secluded environment, much as Catherine Richmond's [b:Spring for Susannah|9669604|Spring for Susannah|Catherine Richmond|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327978258s/9669604.jpg|14557400]. At first I felt that perhaps this would be similar with a marriage that did not exactly start in love. Let me stop here, I'm quite uncertain how to express myself clearly in this novel and to not give away too many spoilers. I'll try my hardest not too, but if I give something away I apologize. Now, back to my thoughts... Eliza is the daughter of the village Parson and quite smitten with the local gentry and as a turn of events plays out she is meant to be his wife and they venture to America. Out breaks war and life is thrown into turmoil. Something after another in a realistic and stressful manner seems to take place as the personalities of the characters come out intertwine and clash. Real emotions are shared as the reader gets to peak inside the mind and wonder what would I do in that situation. Such impossible events.
I keep starting a sentence and deleting it to not give things away. While Eliza's husband Hayward is gone fighting, she is annoyingly (in her opinion and mine) pursued by the bachelor neighbor Halston who is quite useful from time to time. From the shores of England to America and back to England again, there are twists and turns that keep your imagination trying to stay ahead but continuously catching up with the plot. Things change and happen that you really do not know and can hardly guess who the proverbial good guy and bad guy might be. I promise in the end, you'll be surprised as to how things end. But then at the same time, it's not over.
Not only do we meet Eliza and share her joys and burdens, but we also come across her daughter Darcy - who I cannot even begin to image how everything is affecting her! - and also a new friend Sarah. Luckily, even though it feels like it ended, there is more in a second book for Darcy's story ([b:Beside Two Rivers|13125045|Beside Two Rivers|Rita Gerlach|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329424760s/13125045.jpg|18300852]) and then a third to hear of Sarah ([b:Beyond the Valley|13125049|Beyond the Valley|Rita Gerlach|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|18300856]).
Back to my mention of the film Australia. Before the Scarlet Dawn is about so much, just when you think things are coming to a close and settled you realize you still have several hundred pages left. Then you feel like it could not possibly ever get better or happy ever again and that there is no possible solution or way out of a situation and then you see the light is coming back. Surrender. There is no possible way without God's love. He is always there, he is there every step of every direction. If he gives it to you, you can handle it but not maybe in the way you expected. This is quite real and fascinating, yet uncomfortable much in the way of [b:Lady of Milkweed Manor|2043100|Lady of Milkweed Manor|Julie Klassen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1322223127s/2043100.jpg|2048032]. It's fabulous and keeps you going and enticed. How on earth can anybody stand to wait to read the next book to find out what happens next?
*Thanks to Rita and Abingdon Press for providing an electronic ARC on loan until a real copy could arrive in the mail for review.*