Helpful Score: 3
In a time when its more popular to write a novel about the lives of Antebellum plantations during the Civil War, All Things New begins at the end of the war and continues into the late months of that same year.
I will admit to wondering what the point of the novel was going to be in the first couple of chapters, but once I read past the preliminary set up, I was taken into a world completely far from my own. Its a devastated South with plantations families that have been destroyed, their lively hoods gone. Their past rising to haunt them, with no money or threats to keep things quiet. To imagine once having so much power and now having it stripped away as though it never existed except you have to live in the evidence.
This novel gives a windows view from the newly freed slaves, a young woman forced into a new identity, or maybe just discovering Christs identity for her and an aristocratic mother who cant release her past.
The different threads and layers of the story made for a great plot. The subtle taste of romance was just enough added incentive for me to become that much more invested. I was taken into 19th century Southern culture, for it truly was a culture, a way of living completely upended. This novel shows it so well. The reader will only continue to find hidden depths.
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers through CFBA for my copy to review.
I will admit to wondering what the point of the novel was going to be in the first couple of chapters, but once I read past the preliminary set up, I was taken into a world completely far from my own. Its a devastated South with plantations families that have been destroyed, their lively hoods gone. Their past rising to haunt them, with no money or threats to keep things quiet. To imagine once having so much power and now having it stripped away as though it never existed except you have to live in the evidence.
This novel gives a windows view from the newly freed slaves, a young woman forced into a new identity, or maybe just discovering Christs identity for her and an aristocratic mother who cant release her past.
The different threads and layers of the story made for a great plot. The subtle taste of romance was just enough added incentive for me to become that much more invested. I was taken into 19th century Southern culture, for it truly was a culture, a way of living completely upended. This novel shows it so well. The reader will only continue to find hidden depths.
This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers through CFBA for my copy to review.
Helpful Score: 2
Lynn Austin is at the top of my favorite authors! I couldnt wait to read this book!
The Civil War is over and the lives of the wealthy northerners and their slaves are changed forever. Those from the North dont want to accept it and the slaves dont know how to accept it.
The Weatherly family returns to what is left of their once grand home in Virginia. Eugenia, the matriarch of the family and widowed by the war, plans to continue life as before. She purposes, through sheer strength and determination, to rebuild the life they once had. She has lost one son in the war and looks to her surviving son to return and take his fathers place. Daniel comes home angry and shattered by his experiences in the war. He too cannot accept the defeat and seeks revenge on anyone associated with that loss. He could care less about leading the family.
Her 16 year old daughter, Olivia, is spoiled and selfish and is more than happy to comply with her mothers plans. Twenty-two year old Josephine realizes that their focus must be on surviving the reality of their life now, not reconstructing the past. Although practical in her outlook, she is angry with God for not rewarding her goodness and answering her prayers during the war. She has turned away from Him.
The only slaves that remain on their plantation are Lizze and Otis and their 3 children. They have no clue how to handle their new found freedom and realize they have no place to go. For the first time, Josephine begins to see them as flesh and blood people with feelings and attempts to treat them as equals. This only enrages her mother more.
Josephine and her family face hardships they have never experienced: lack of food, clothing, and money. She begins to understand that this a small taste of the lives their slaves have always lived. The only difference in Lizze and Otiss life is that they know their children will never be sold or face mistreatment as they did.
I was astonished at this historical novel. Ms. Austin was a genius not only in how she presented the historical facts about the Post Civil War era, but also in capturing the personal details and emotions that so many different groups of people faced in its aftermath. I never dreamed of what these people actually dealt with.
In many ways the wealthy families coming back were almost as poor as the slaves, but their situations were made worse because they had no skills or knowledge to care for their daily needs and homes. A culture shock confronted them as they were stripped of their money and lavish, snobbish lifestyles. They were broken people with only their self-righteous pride left.
The soldiers left as strong, courageous young men only to return shattered emotionally, mentally and some physically. Handicapped individuals then did not have all the medical help and devices to make life easier. Many wished they had died rather than live as a cripple. Some carried the guilt of being alive because their friends died.
Then there were the slaves who finally had freedom but had no means or knowledge to embrace it. Their fear of their masters abuse was replaced with fear being killed by angry ex-slave owners. If they went away, they had no means to support themselves nor any place to go. In staying they are treated with the same disrespect and left with the workload of a household of slaves. This was a very confusing time for them too.
Also there were the southerners who fought for the slaves freedom and wanted to help them in making a new life. They found themselves in danger and hated by the bitter white men of the north for whom they blamed for their losses. On the other hand the slaves feared trusting them because they were white.
As if
If all this wasnt remarkable enough, Ms. Austin includes one more very important aspect. In a crisis God is always at work whether we realize it or not. We are either drawn closer to Him or turn away. Not only was I a part of the characters thoughts and emotions, but she also enabled me to experience their spiritual journey in such a tumultuous time.
I will never look at this era the same again. She brought history and the characters alive! This book is a masterpiece you WILL want to read!
I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255
The Civil War is over and the lives of the wealthy northerners and their slaves are changed forever. Those from the North dont want to accept it and the slaves dont know how to accept it.
The Weatherly family returns to what is left of their once grand home in Virginia. Eugenia, the matriarch of the family and widowed by the war, plans to continue life as before. She purposes, through sheer strength and determination, to rebuild the life they once had. She has lost one son in the war and looks to her surviving son to return and take his fathers place. Daniel comes home angry and shattered by his experiences in the war. He too cannot accept the defeat and seeks revenge on anyone associated with that loss. He could care less about leading the family.
Her 16 year old daughter, Olivia, is spoiled and selfish and is more than happy to comply with her mothers plans. Twenty-two year old Josephine realizes that their focus must be on surviving the reality of their life now, not reconstructing the past. Although practical in her outlook, she is angry with God for not rewarding her goodness and answering her prayers during the war. She has turned away from Him.
The only slaves that remain on their plantation are Lizze and Otis and their 3 children. They have no clue how to handle their new found freedom and realize they have no place to go. For the first time, Josephine begins to see them as flesh and blood people with feelings and attempts to treat them as equals. This only enrages her mother more.
Josephine and her family face hardships they have never experienced: lack of food, clothing, and money. She begins to understand that this a small taste of the lives their slaves have always lived. The only difference in Lizze and Otiss life is that they know their children will never be sold or face mistreatment as they did.
I was astonished at this historical novel. Ms. Austin was a genius not only in how she presented the historical facts about the Post Civil War era, but also in capturing the personal details and emotions that so many different groups of people faced in its aftermath. I never dreamed of what these people actually dealt with.
In many ways the wealthy families coming back were almost as poor as the slaves, but their situations were made worse because they had no skills or knowledge to care for their daily needs and homes. A culture shock confronted them as they were stripped of their money and lavish, snobbish lifestyles. They were broken people with only their self-righteous pride left.
The soldiers left as strong, courageous young men only to return shattered emotionally, mentally and some physically. Handicapped individuals then did not have all the medical help and devices to make life easier. Many wished they had died rather than live as a cripple. Some carried the guilt of being alive because their friends died.
Then there were the slaves who finally had freedom but had no means or knowledge to embrace it. Their fear of their masters abuse was replaced with fear being killed by angry ex-slave owners. If they went away, they had no means to support themselves nor any place to go. In staying they are treated with the same disrespect and left with the workload of a household of slaves. This was a very confusing time for them too.
Also there were the southerners who fought for the slaves freedom and wanted to help them in making a new life. They found themselves in danger and hated by the bitter white men of the north for whom they blamed for their losses. On the other hand the slaves feared trusting them because they were white.
As if
If all this wasnt remarkable enough, Ms. Austin includes one more very important aspect. In a crisis God is always at work whether we realize it or not. We are either drawn closer to Him or turn away. Not only was I a part of the characters thoughts and emotions, but she also enabled me to experience their spiritual journey in such a tumultuous time.
I will never look at this era the same again. She brought history and the characters alive! This book is a masterpiece you WILL want to read!
I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255
Helpful Score: 1
"All Things New" by Lynn Austin is set in post-Civil War-era Virginia and focuses on the months immediately following the end of the war. The Confederacy has just lost the war, the citizens are facing poverty and attempting to pick up the pieces of shattered lives, and deep prejudices continue to come to light.
Josephine Weatherly lost her father and one older brother in the war. Her family may lose their plantation as well with limited resources and no real ability to bring in a cotton crop. Josephine begins to see that life needs to revolve around basic survival, not trying to keep up a facade of life as it was before the war. Her mother, Eugenia, is appalled at the idea of her daughter expressing interesting in tending a garden, sewing, and learning to cook, and she tries to forbid Josephine from having anything to do with "manual labor".
Lizzie is a freed slave who continues to live at White Oak plantation with her family after the war, primarily due to the promise of her children receiving an education thanks to the newly established Freedman's Bureau, run by a former Yankee soldier named Alexander Chandler. Lizzie and her family embrace their newfound freedom, but begin to experience a taste of the extreme difficulties that the freed slaves will face in this new phase of life.
This was a wonderful book that takes a look at different aspects of life during Reconstruction from three different perspectives. I loved how Austin showed the effects of war, bitterness, and hatred, and how the remedy is found in God's healing love and forgiveness. The characters were well-developed and there was just enough suspense to keep the reader engaged to the end. Overall, a good fictional read that focuses on an important and challenging part of American history.
(Ive received this complimentary book from Bethany House Publishers through the Book Blogger program in exchange for a review. A positive review was not required and the views expressed in my review are strictly my own.)
Josephine Weatherly lost her father and one older brother in the war. Her family may lose their plantation as well with limited resources and no real ability to bring in a cotton crop. Josephine begins to see that life needs to revolve around basic survival, not trying to keep up a facade of life as it was before the war. Her mother, Eugenia, is appalled at the idea of her daughter expressing interesting in tending a garden, sewing, and learning to cook, and she tries to forbid Josephine from having anything to do with "manual labor".
Lizzie is a freed slave who continues to live at White Oak plantation with her family after the war, primarily due to the promise of her children receiving an education thanks to the newly established Freedman's Bureau, run by a former Yankee soldier named Alexander Chandler. Lizzie and her family embrace their newfound freedom, but begin to experience a taste of the extreme difficulties that the freed slaves will face in this new phase of life.
This was a wonderful book that takes a look at different aspects of life during Reconstruction from three different perspectives. I loved how Austin showed the effects of war, bitterness, and hatred, and how the remedy is found in God's healing love and forgiveness. The characters were well-developed and there was just enough suspense to keep the reader engaged to the end. Overall, a good fictional read that focuses on an important and challenging part of American history.
(Ive received this complimentary book from Bethany House Publishers through the Book Blogger program in exchange for a review. A positive review was not required and the views expressed in my review are strictly my own.)
Lynn Austin is a good story teller and with this book she gives a glimpse into the period of time immediately following the Civil War that helps me understand, albeit superficially, how it was that the South remained so violently racially divided for so long. Something that my northern upbringing never really informed me of. I mean, as a child of the 60's and teen of the 70s, I knew about racial violence, but I did not have any real understanding of why the south struggled with it for so many decades. I had several head-slapping "of course" moments in this regards while reading this book.
The only real qualm I have with the book is that the ending was a bit unbelievable and resolves too quickly, IMO. But suspending my contemporary sensibilities about all of that, I could see in the ending the perfect object lesson for redemption - which, ultimately, is at the heart of the Christian faith - and Lynn Austin's stories.
When I closed the book I was definitely glad I'd read it. It's a relatively easy read - catching the reader's interest from the first page (and that's coming from someone who wasn't all that excited about reading a story about this particular time period. ;^)
I think (depending on individual sensitivities) this would be an appropriate book for anyone (though it would mostly appeal to females) aged 14 and up.
If you like Christian fiction, definitely check this out. If you're not into CF, the book still may be worthwhile in providing exposure to a side of the Civil War few today probably even consider.
The only real qualm I have with the book is that the ending was a bit unbelievable and resolves too quickly, IMO. But suspending my contemporary sensibilities about all of that, I could see in the ending the perfect object lesson for redemption - which, ultimately, is at the heart of the Christian faith - and Lynn Austin's stories.
When I closed the book I was definitely glad I'd read it. It's a relatively easy read - catching the reader's interest from the first page (and that's coming from someone who wasn't all that excited about reading a story about this particular time period. ;^)
I think (depending on individual sensitivities) this would be an appropriate book for anyone (though it would mostly appeal to females) aged 14 and up.
If you like Christian fiction, definitely check this out. If you're not into CF, the book still may be worthwhile in providing exposure to a side of the Civil War few today probably even consider.
This is an interesting book about the difficult years of Reconstruction and the relationship between the now free slaves and the plantation owners.
Great book - would highly recommended it.
I had a hard time getting into this because at first it just seemed like a pro-slavery story, but that was to just give you a perspective of what Southerners after the Civil War's emotions were like and how they may have seriously felt. It definitely stirred up sorrows in my heart as I read it.
As I went on it became better and better and people were changing and growing. It didn't really get good for me until I got to 250 pages (out of 412 pages in this book). That is not a good thing. After that the story was amazing.
The main characters are as follows:
Josephine goes home after the Civil War is over. She lives down south in Virginia. It is really tough on her family to adjust to having no slaves any longer. Her mother Eugenia is a widow left with two daughters and a son dealing with his hardships of loss. Josephine has a hard time believing in God but she is willing to try to change and finds that doing tasks their slaves once did brings her comfort.
Alexander came from the north and was born a Quaker. He had rebelled against his upbringing and now wants to find peace for his own mistakes and to learn to love his enemies. He also wants to help the Freedmen adjust to a new life away from their slavery they once knew. It has been hard for him, but he trusts that God will see him through.
Otis and Lizzie are a married couple who grew up as slaves on Eugenia's plantation. Lizzie does not want to stick around while her husband does. She has three children to raise and hopes the best for their lives so that they won't have to suffer as she did. She has her own fears and story to tell throughout the book. Her husband Otis has a large trust in God and believes in loving his enemies and doing right by them, which she finds to be ridiculous.
Throughout this book there are relationships of friendships, family, and love that grow. It was very good and I believe speaks much truth for what life back in that time definitely could have seemed to be like. I will give it 3.25 stars.
As I went on it became better and better and people were changing and growing. It didn't really get good for me until I got to 250 pages (out of 412 pages in this book). That is not a good thing. After that the story was amazing.
The main characters are as follows:
Josephine goes home after the Civil War is over. She lives down south in Virginia. It is really tough on her family to adjust to having no slaves any longer. Her mother Eugenia is a widow left with two daughters and a son dealing with his hardships of loss. Josephine has a hard time believing in God but she is willing to try to change and finds that doing tasks their slaves once did brings her comfort.
Alexander came from the north and was born a Quaker. He had rebelled against his upbringing and now wants to find peace for his own mistakes and to learn to love his enemies. He also wants to help the Freedmen adjust to a new life away from their slavery they once knew. It has been hard for him, but he trusts that God will see him through.
Otis and Lizzie are a married couple who grew up as slaves on Eugenia's plantation. Lizzie does not want to stick around while her husband does. She has three children to raise and hopes the best for their lives so that they won't have to suffer as she did. She has her own fears and story to tell throughout the book. Her husband Otis has a large trust in God and believes in loving his enemies and doing right by them, which she finds to be ridiculous.
Throughout this book there are relationships of friendships, family, and love that grow. It was very good and I believe speaks much truth for what life back in that time definitely could have seemed to be like. I will give it 3.25 stars.
