The Sound of Distant Thunder

GIVEAWAY

DREXLER, JAN
THE SOUND OF DISTANT THUNDER

For two hopeless romantics, the Civil War will be the ultimate test.

Seventeen-year-old Katie Stuckey is starry-eyed, in love with the idea of being in love, and does not want to wait until she is eighteen to marry Jonas Weaver as her parents insists. Twenty-year-old Jonas knows war is at odds with the teachings of the church, yet he can't help being taken in by the romance of the soldiering life, especially for the abolitionist cause.

When his married brother's name comes up in the draft list, Jonas volunteers to take his brother's place. But can the commitment Katie and Jonas have made to each other survive the separation?

My Review:

"Jonas never worked around a problem, he worked through it." (p 55 ) -- a father's interesting observation which plays out in unexpected ways throughout the course of this first book in Drexler's The Amish of Weaver Creek series.

And what a stunning work of historical fiction! This author does her research and then brings history to life with her stories. The Sound of Distant Thunder is more than a Civil War novel. Yes it includes battles and politics and violence but  Drexler has created a very intimate look at these events through the eyes of her characters -- the kind that feel like living, breathing people it's easy for a reader to bond with.

And by doing that she has brought that time in history to a truly personal level. It made a real impact on me and I found myself mulling over parallels I see in this upside down 21st century world and the decisions and conflicts each of us is faced with daily. In some ways we are very much like Jonas -- but are we looking for ways around our problems or are we courageous enough to work through them?

For all his youth, Jonas is amazing hero material. Torn between his Amish faith and his desire to see slavery abolished -- and it seems like there is no way to honour both. I love the way the story unfolds. There's plenty of day-to-day Amish living in 1862 -- and historical Amish fiction is so fascinating! There's the sweet romance between Katie and Jonas -- the impetuous impatience of young love! But this is also a very interesting time in Amish church history as different districts battle over what being Amish really means. Conflicting opinions threaten their Old Order way of doing things. Intriguing parallels here between a nation fighting for change and a church struggling to keep change out.

Jan Drexler provides exquisite storytelling with the promise of more goodness to come as future books in the Amish of Weaver's Creek series release (hopefully in the very near future!)

Book provided courtesy of Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of The Sound of Distant Thunder, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday October 14 2018. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!;lishis