Before the Scarlet Dawn

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Before The Scarlet Dawn Abingdon Press (February 2012) by Rita Gerlach
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rita Gerlach lives with her husband and two sons in a historical town nestled along the Catoctin Mountains, amid Civil War battlefields and Revolutionary War outposts in central Maryland.

"Romantic historical fiction that has an inspirational bent, is one way people can escape the cares of life and be transported back to a time of raw courage and ideal love," she says. "The goal of my writing is to give readers a respite, and inspire them to live fully and gratefully."

In many of her stories, she writes about the struggles endured by early colonists, with a sprinkling of both American and English history. Currently she is writing a new historical series for Abingdon Press entitled 'Daughters of the Potomac'. See her 'Novels In Progress' page on her website to learn more.

There are other novels on her list to be published, and a proposal for another book series.

She was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in a large family in the Maryland suburbs. Her family claims that storytelling is their blood, handed down from centuries of Irish storytellers. Rita believes there just may be something to that theory.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1775, Hayward Morgan, a young gentleman destined to inherit his father’s estate in Derbyshire, England, captures the heart of the local vicar’s daughter,

Eliza Bloome. Her dark beauty and spirited ways are not enough to win him, due to her station in life.  

Circumstances throw Eliza in Hayward’s path, and they flee to America to escape the family conflicts. But as war looms, it's a temporary reprieve. Hayward joins the revolutionary forces and what follows is a struggle for survival, a test of faith, and the quest to find lasting love in an unforgiving wilderness.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Before The Scarlet Dawn, go HERE.

Watch the book video:



MY THOUGHTS

I really wanted to like this book but found myself increasingly dissatisfied and frustrated with it. Some aspects were great, but they weren't enough to overcome the parts I had issues with. I'm not one who is horrified when folks sin in books; sin is a reality in life for both believers and non-believers. The aftermath is what matters, and I was disappointed in the lack of redemption and forgiveness portrayed in this novel. The ending disappointed and puzzled me. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll be vague. Following a character's realization and declaration that something couldn't happen, that is the very thing that occurs, yet the previous circumstances preclude the possibility; the result is an ending that goes against Biblical values. I'm not sure that was the intent of the author, but it's how it appeared, and I am not the only reviewer who had this response. The book had so much potential to head a different direction and end with hope, reconciliation, and redemption that it was even more disappointing to see it end in such a compromising manner. I can't recommend this one.