|
Hamilton
Falls, Washington- Dinah
Traynell has just buried her father. She
has a house full of people, including the one person she does not want
in her
house, Phinehas, who is the head of her church.
She also is hiding Matthew Nicholas out in the barn,
who she thinks is
just another vagrant wanting a hand out.
Dinah's sister has come home with her four-month old
daughter with the
intention of leaving her with Dinah to raise as her own child.
Dinah has grown up
believing she is a vessel of
love. This was told to her by Phinehas,
the church leader. He is a
sociopath. All her life, the church has
stated the outside world is a bad place; "You will forever burn in hell
if
you go Out". Out is when you
experience the outside world. If you
decided to stay Out, the church has a Code of Silence they demand
everyone
follow. This is the only life Dinah has
known all her life. She does not know
what to believe anymore.
Matthew Nicholas was an
assistant professor of English
at University
of California on
the run from false
allegations. He found himself at the
backdoor of the Traynell’s. When a young
woman opened the door, he is instantly taken with the haunted, sad look
in her
eyes. He has problems of his own to deal
with, but he needs to make some money to continue his journey. He offers to help around the farm in order to
achieve his goal.
Dinah and Matthew start
to lean on each other. They are two people
who are hurting. Matthew starts asking
questions about Dinah’s
church and is shocked to learn what the church is teaching. He starts telling Dinah what he believes and
what the outside world is really like.
Dinah is shocked to learn that everything she has
been taught is a
lie. She is disgusted when she learns
the truth about Phinehas and what he has done to her and her family. Through all the talking, Matthew and Dinah
learn to trust one another, and they start having strong feelings for
each
other. They will both have an up hill
climb but; they also know that they can get through anything as long as
they
are true to themselves.
This was an interesting
story. Knowing there are churches out
there that
take advantage of the members and brain wash them is maddening. I wanted to reach out to Dinah and tell her
what her church leader was preaching was not the truth.
With Matthew I felt sorry for him, he was
accused of the same thing Phinehas was doing, but Matthew was going to
be
punished for it and Phinehas was getting away with it.
There is a word of
warning: There is mention of rape, child
abuse in this
book. If you have a hard time with these
subjects, the book might not be to your liking.
Reviewed by Patsy Glans
for The Road to Romance
August
1, 2005 |
