I love to read at night. The problem is that sometimes a book is so compelling that I have to keep on reading long after I should have been asleep. Thy Father's Will by Kirsten Jacobson Stasney is just such a book.
Stasney is the graddaughter of Anna Marvick Jacobson and the great-granddaughter of Joseph Marvick. Joseph Marvick is a good man, a wealthy businessman and respected church leader in Story City Iowa during the early 1900s. A widower, he relies on his sister and then his older daughters to run his home. They are a happy family who love, respect and obey their father. Joseph makes good decisions for his family such as where they should go to school and who they should marry. He does a very good job of leading his children to lives of prosperity, health and happiness until the one day he makes a bad decision.
The results of that decision causes the death of his only son, changes the future of his daughters and sends his favourite daughter, the one who reminds him most of his late wife, to a life of drudgery and abuse. Joseph tries so hard to repair the damage he has done. He can't forgive himself for the consequences of his decisions even though he made them for all the right reasons.
The story is riveting, sometimes heartbreaking and the end was a big shock to me. The author has taken the time to research her family and the time they lived in to make the backgrounds interesting and informative and to help us understand a little better.
If you are looking for an excellent read, look no further.
Thank you very much for linking this in to Books You Loved. Are you the same Pam that does Our Test Kitchen by any chance??
ReplyDeleteHave a good week.