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Colleen’s Confession
Colleen is an orphan who has taken up a job as a laundress for the Clark family at the Comfort Island house. Colleen meets new people, some of whom are nice to her for what seems like the first time in her life. She dreams of becoming a wife and artist.
This eloquent story takes place in 1914, on the cusp of World War 1, where men run things and women are meant to support them. There is also a great divide between those who have and those who have naught. Jack Weiss is an Austrian immigrant who befriends Collen but is torn between his possible love for her or returning to Austria to fight in the war for his homeland. Will Colleen’s dream of being an artist come true, and will Jack finally woo the girl of his dreams?
At the beginning of this fascinating book, I felt that Colleen was a difficult character for me to root for. Yes, she had a horrible upbringing with abusive nuns and forced child labor, but she did not help me sympathize or empathize with her. Instead, she was continuously unfriendly to Jack and her roommate Tara. However, as the story progressed and Jack kept battering down her walls, I found myself really liking her character, and that slow evolution of her character was all the more enjoyable.
The author has done an excellent job at taking Colleen’s character through tremendous growth. She also created a fantastic villain that you love to hate, Mrs. Marshall. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Jack is trying to boost Colleen’s morale when he talks about how Colleen’s skill with art has nothing to do with being rich or poor that, in fact, being poor allows them “to be rich in what really matters.” As a result, they might be able to appreciate the little things more than those who have everything. I thought that that was the book’s central theme—the dichotomy between rich and poor.
Colleen’s Confession is a heartwarming novel of healing, hope, and forgiveness. With the time period set at the beginnings of WWI, there is a historical element to the storyline. The love story is sweet and keeps a Christian focus throughout. This is the perfect novel to read when you want a great period piece to sit down with.
Pages: 163 | ASIN : B09K4XKQXS
Heirs of Deceits
Heirs of Deceits by Elizabeth Reinach is a historical fiction story set in Victorian England. Sir Gilbert Stanley is a wealthy landowner and member of parliament who has left behind a string of abandoned women and illegitimate children. When the mothers died, the children were sent to live at a workhouse or fostered out to another family. Years later, Sir Gilbert does not acknowledge them as his children but takes them in to his household to work as servants at his country estate, Stanley Court. When his illegitimate son, Henry is murdered, will Sir Gilbert be able to discover who killed him? And what will become of his other children when the scandal of their illegitimacy is revealed?
This story had a unique structure that spanned a number of years, following several children from early childhood in to young adulthood. I liked how the author showed insight into the various trials faced by the characters. It was an interesting contrast to see the difference between the hardships in the lives of Sir Gilbert’s illegitimate children living in a workhouse compared to Lady Anne, who was raised in an aristocratic household. I enjoyed the elements of mystery in this story, reading all the different clues during the murder investigation and trying to put the pieces together to figure out the identity of the killer. I liked that the author included an epilogue showing how the lives of the characters turned out.
The story was divided into several parts and in the first part, where each chapter was focused on a different child’s early life experiences. In Part Two the story lines of the different children start to merge together. When the same events were told from more than one character’s perspective, the facts were not always consistent as is often the case when multiple people are retelling a story, everyone remembers things a little different. This adds a layer of realism to the story with the retelling from multiple perspectives.
Heirs of Deceits by Elizabeth Reinach is a wonderful period piece that highlights a common issue of the time when men often had illegitimate children but no one ever wanted to speak of them. While a work of fiction this book give a voice to those deemed illegitimate. With scandal and a riveting murder mystery this novel will entertain a diverse set of readers.
Pages: 244 | ASIN: B07T239B3B
Chad’tu
Chad’tu is a period piece set in the old west, a time when cattleman and Native Americans fought for land. Immersed in the period of gunslingers and cattle ranchers, this narrative follows the accounts of Chad’tu, a man who goes on a quest to save his abducted wife. Separated from his family at a young age, Chad’tu drifted from one person to another, mostly learning the ways of a warrior from his Native American father, Shatika, who had adopted him, and then trained by a master gunsmith named Brett Tishman. Although much of the novel unfolds in retrospect, through a series of flashbacks intermingled with the events that are taking place in Chad’s present life, the story has a surprisingly strong grip on the reader with its unique taste for suspense and thrill.
Set in a forgotten world, this novel encapsulates the nostalgia of the old world gun fighting days. The quintessential style that every gunslinger in town tried to emulate and was thereby worshipped within the scope of Western movies ranging from Clint Eastwood to Eli Wallach, has been skillfully rendered in this story too. Their tradition of measuring opponents from a distance, the typical broad hat, the nonchalant poker face which never gave away any emotions, the indifference with which they carried themselves, their fierce loyalty to their own principles and their heroic struggle to take back what was rightfully theirs, has all been religiously followed and reflected in this riveting novel.
In fact, one can visualize with clarity the scenes where characters in the story are involved in street fights or get bested by their superiors and are left abandoned to fate. It demonstrates the author’s command over the language, not only in the use of different dialects and accents but also in the depth of their knowledge regarding this specific genre. It is one thing to imbibe the structural formulae of a particular narrative style but it is another thing to reconstruct a distinct narrative that follows every genre convention while also adding their own nuances to it. What is surprising to note is that, in spite of being written during the 21st century, much of the character’s thought processes and beliefs are authentic to the time period.
Chad’tu by Kelsie R. Gates is a gripping tale of adventure that will mesmerize readers from all walks of life. Readers will be transported back in time to the old west and relive the excitement and adventures of those that lived by a different code.
Pages: 354 | ASIN: B08XSQC494
LITERARY TITAN 