This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
When The Morning Glory Blooms
Abingdon Press (April 1, 2013)
by
Cynthia Ruchti
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cynthia writes stories of hope that glows in the dark, merging her love for storytelling with inextinguishable hope for inexpressible hurts.
Cynthia spends her days diving into words, worship, and wonder and celebrating 40 years of marriage, three grown children, and five outrageously adorable grandchildren. One of her greatest joys is helping other writers grow in their craft. To that end, she served as the assistant director and a faculty member of the Quad Cities Christian Writers Conference, has served as worship and devotions staff for the Write-to-Publish conference, and teaches at other conferences as opportunities arise. She speaks to women’s groups, at mother-daughter banquets, and for women’s refresher days and retreats. It is her delight to serve on her church’s worship team. Rather than “busy,” she likes the term “active.”
For 33 years, Cynthia wrote and produced the radio broadcast The Heartbeat of the Home. The scripted radio drama/devotional broadcast aired on as many as 50 radio stations and two cable/digital television stations over the years. Cynthia was the editor of the ministry’s
Backyard Friends magazine, a twenty-page, twice annual publication that reached 5,000 homes, churches, and parachurch outreaches.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Becky rocks a baby that rocked her world. Sixty years earlier, with her fiancé Drew in the middle of the Korean Conflict, Ivy throws herself into her work at a nursing home to keep her sanity and provide for the child Drew doesn't know is coming. Ivy cares for Anna, an elderly patient who taxes Ivy's listening ear until the day she suspects Anna's tall tales are not the ramblings of dementia. They're fragments of Anna's disjointed memories of a remarkable life. Finding a faint thread of hope she can't resist tugging, Ivy records Anna's memoir, scribbling furiously after hours to keep up with the woman's emotion-packed, grace-hemmed stories. Is Ivy's answer buried in Anna's past? Becky, Ivy, Anna--three women fight a tangled vine of deception in search of the blossoming simplicity of truth.
If you would like to read the first chapter of
When The Morning Glory Blooms, go
HERE.
My Thoughts:
I have found over the last couple of years, that I enjoy stories that contain a story within a story. When I was given the opportunity to read and review Cynthia Ruchti's
When the Morning Glory Blooms I found not one story tucked inside the beautiful cover of this book but three. All three stories take place in different time periods, 2013, 1951 and 1890, and they each tell a story of women dealing with pregnacy issues.
We are first introduced to Becky Trundle who in 2013 finds herself caring for her precious grandson, Jackson, born to her daughter out of wedlock. Her daughter, Lauren, still a high school student living at home tends to rely a little heavily on her mom to do what she really should be doing as a mother to Jackson. Becky feels she might be doing too much in taking care of Jackson and that maybe she should try to help Lauren understand her role as mother.
The next woman we are introduced to is Ivy Carrington, who in 1951 finds herself pregnant but is unable to let her boyfriend, Drew Lambert, know before he is sent off to war in Korea. She writes to him but decides not to tell him about the baby for fear it will distract him from the war and he might get injured. Ivy works at a nursing home where she meets Anna Grissom, a resident of the nursing home. Anna is afraid she is losing her memories and asks Ivy to write them down for her. At first, Ivy feels they must just be ramblings from an old lady but she soon learns that there is more going on in Anna's stories, that they aren't stories at all but her memoirs.
We are then taken back to 1890 where we meet the young Anna Carrington. Anna's dream was to establish a home for young women who found themselves pregnant and basically disowned by their families. Anna finds her prayers are answered when she inherits an old house from her aunt that is in desperate need of repair. With the help of Puff (I loved this character) the house soon starts taking shape.
When the Morning Glory Blooms is Ms. Ruchti's second novel and I found that her prose was lyrical to the point of reading like music. She took these three stories and wove them together like a patchwork quilt, sharing warmth and pleasure along the way. I truly enjoyed this book.
This book is a story of hope and God's grace that is given to us in the face of adversity. I would suggest having a box of tissues available and one or two tears will most likely be shed. I would highly recommend this book.
On a 5-Star scale - 5 stars!
I would like to thank the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and Abingdon Press for my copy of
When the Morning Glory Blooms. I received my copy for free in order to read and give my honest review, which I have done.
Smiles & Blessings,
