phyllish
Written on Mar 6, 2018
The greatest mystery to Pearl was one that she wasn’t even aware was a question. She knew who her family was, or so she thought. However, the story unraveled lies and truths and secrets that had been hidden and warped and in the end, everything boiled down to the question “Who are you, Pearl?”
The story was full of memorable characters. I loved the patient and enduring love that Rolf, Pearl’s husband showed her. Though their roles were fairly minor, yet crucial, he and Oliva were my favorite characters. Oliva’s gentle faith in God and the way she shared truths that Pearl so desperately needed to hear were endearing. Oliva was the one who asked Pearl “Who are you?”
I was so glad for the Biblical truths that were shared about who we are in Christ. The beautiful encouragement of Psalm 139. The author did a great job in sharing these truths through the lives of her characters.
Pearl learned to be a midwife, and through the pages of this story, I enjoyed learning many things about midwifery at the turn of the last century.
Dealing with the difficult issues of misplaced identity, mentally abusive relationships, neglect, and depression, this was not an easy book for me to read. Aside from the depression, there were so many very ugly things Pearl learned about her mother and that we learned about her father. There was a lot of depravity in the book, which added to my struggles in reading it.
The story took place in the early 1900s, before the start of the Great War, but there were so many flashbacks! I did feel like I had to be extra aware at all times as I read to figure out when things were taking place. I can see why the author did this, as it was necessary for the way she slowly revealed things, but it was confusing at times.
I have not read the other books in this series and believe that I would have been less confused if I had. Though there was a satisfactory ending, one mystery remained – which I believe will be the story of the next book.
This review was originally posted on AmongTheReads.net
I would like to thank Singing Librarian Book Tours for giving me this item. My opinion and review were not influenced by this gift.