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BOOK REVIEW: Emma's Gift
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by: Laura V. Hilton Dancing Word Reviewer
Title: Emma's Gift Author: Leisha Kelly Publisher: Revell ISBN: 0-8007-5857-9 Genre: Inspirational/Historical Fiction
Julia Wortham is a caring woman with a strong faith in God. She and her husband, Samuel, live with Emma Graham, and help to take care of her after she lost a leg and can hardly get around. When a neighbor boy comes over asking for help caring for his sick ma, both Emma and Julia jump to the challenge.
Wilametta Hammond is far worse than Julia and Emma expect. They send her oldest son after the doctor, and the rest of Wilametta’s nine children over to Julia’s house for Samuel to care for while they nurse the mother. A blizzard is raging outside, and the doctor doesn’t make it. Emma and Julia can do nothing, and Wilametta dies. Her husband, crazy with grief, runs out into the blizzard with no coat on. Julia can’t make him come in. Will he die in the storm? Or will he rally for the sake of his children?
While waiting for someone to come and take them home after Wilametta’s death, Emma steps out into the storm. Julie drags her in, but Emma is overcome by her illness and the cold and she passes away while Julia prepares her tea. Stunned by the death of two close friends and scared that she too will die, Julia starts questioning a God who would allow two people needed so much to die. What will happen to the Hammond Children? How can Julia and Samuel support ten extra children when they’re barely able to keep their own two children clothed?
Emma's Gift is the second book in the series, and it would help readers if they read Julia's Hope first in order to understand a lot of the things that are left unexplained in the second book. Emma's Gift is written in first person, in both Julia’s and Samuel’s point of view; I’ve never seen a book written in the same style before, and it seemed a bit confusing to be bounced back and forth between two people. I think it would have helped if it was written in third person. There is also a lot of telling in Emma's Gift. Even though the story is in first person, there isn’t much showing in the story; the reader isn’t drawn into the character’s lives, so they don’t feel they are experiencing the story. Emma's Gift is very well written though, and its obvious Ms. Kelly spent hours researching.
Emma's Gift is a great look back in time to the depression era when families were struggling to make ends meet and medical help wasn’t readily available. In spite of it’s beginning, the reader is able to have hope that things will work out for everyone, and they will come to care deeply for Julia. Pick Emma's Gift up today. | |
