April 1928, Fairhope, Arkansas 

Lanie Bell Freeman is fourteen and she has a heavy load on her shoulders.  Her mother is having severe problems with her latest birth and her father is trying to get a business off the ground.  Lanie’s brother and sisters aren’t doing their fair share of the chores.  They were in the depression, not the best time to start a new business venture or have another child.

The birth of Lanie’s little sister was too much for her mother.  Lanie is now the caregiver, the cook, the housekeeper, plus she is also trying to keep her studies in good standing.  She does not want to burden her father with the fact her siblings are not much help to her.  She decides that the only option open to her is to quit school.  She does the best she can but it just isn’t enough.

When Lanie’s father is wrongly accused of murder, she fears she and her siblings will be put in foster homes.  She knows she has to keep the business going in order to make the mortgage payment every month.  When the officials come by and tell her unless she can find a relative, her and the other children will be separated and the homeplace sold.

Lanie’s faith never falters.  She knows the heavenly father is with her during these terrible times, just as he is during the good times.  She knows he will show her the way to keep her family together and also to stay in the homeplace.

What an amazing new series by Gilbert Morris.  I so enjoyed this book.  I really liked Lanie. No matter what was tossed her way, she met in head-on, and she never gave up on her faith.  It was the one thing she wasn’t going to let anyone take from her.  Even if you have not read any of Mr. Morris’s books, this book will wrap itself around you. Lanie is such a strong, levelheaded woman, you find yourself wanting to jump into the book and help her out.  Even though the time period was the depression, the reader doesn’t get the sense of doom and gloom.  Mr. Morris has a writing style which isn't bogged down in details. He gets to the point and it’s easy for the reader to follow.

Reviewed by Patsy Glans for The Road to Romance

September 27, 2005