Author: Francine Rivers
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-4143-7063-7

The things that happen in our lives are allowed to happen because the Lord wants to draw us to Him. We make decisions and do things, thinking we are in control, but we never really are. God is.” Sierra confesses in Francine Rivers’s novel, The Scarlet Thread.

This four hundred and thirty-eight page paperback book has a photograph of a woman reading a journal with a quilt under it on the front page. Geared toward Christian women, it is a tome about romance with an undercurrent of bitterness, resentment and feelings of betrayal. With no profanity or overtly sexual scenes, mature teenagers and older readers would understand the topics of marriage, infidelity, and pregnancy. Different fonts are helpfully used in lieu of the two different characters along with intentional misspellings for old-fashioned dialect. There are discussion questions with an author biography at the end of the book.

Sierra Clanton Madrid has been married for ten years and has lived her entire life in a small northern California town. Threaded between her story, a past relative, Mary Kathryn McMurray, was born and raised on Missouri land with her parents and siblings back in the mid-eighteen hundreds.

When Sierra is told by her husband that they will be moving to Los Angeles for his new job, she is not at all happy with the decision. While most of her time is spent acclimating their two children into a new home, new school and new friends, she is resentful of the materialism and lack of attention and support of her busy, aloof and preoccupied husband.

In reading Mary’s diary, Sierra sees the correlation that Mary has to leave her homestead and unwillingly travel on the Oregon Trail with her adventurous, determined husband. Both women are opinionated, self-focused and want things done their way as they battle their spouses’ choices.

As the two individuals’ lives are played out with anger, hatred, spite and remorse, both women have to make hard decisions on how to approach and accept their positions in life. Both have to come to terms with God being in control, as their decisions involve others and results affect everyone.

Will Sierra always have the love and adoration toward her husband? Will Mary learn to accept her husband’s driven personality as they head out West? Will those around both women understand what is important and what is not? This great read makes the reader take a second look at how words and how they are said can change outcomes, especially when one realizes God is ultimately in control.

This book was provided by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. for review purposes.


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