Faith

Faith is the culmination of the Quaker Brides series by Lyn Cote. I looked back at what I said about the other two books in this series and I found this statement:

Lyn Cote writes books that describe strong women with strong faith. They are independently minded, and yet, want the same love and nurture of their friends. They need the strength of the men in their lives to lean on at times. Her books are compelling and engaging, if not inspiring. Her main characters have strength of faith and strength of convictions. Honor is no different. She can't stand to see someone in pain if she can alleviate it, she takes in a deaf child because she has learned the sign language her husband communicates with, she helps him with his business of glass-blowing, and then she deals with the runaways and the slave catchers. I loved Honor and her strength.

This is true of the book Faith as well, the women are strong in faith and convictions, persevering in the midst of the hardest circumstances. The time has moved forward to the Civil War, which was anything BUT civil. Faith is a nurse who has studied with a prominent doctor and has also studied the healing power of herbal remedies. Honoree is the sister of Faith's friend, Shiloh, who was kidnapped and sold as a slave. They have both joined with the Army to go with the hospital to nurse the wounded and to find Shiloh. In the midst of their work, they find Col. Devlin Knight who has made it his duty to see to Faith's and Honoree's safety. After the battles are fought, Faith and Honoree tend the wounded and search for clues to Shiloh's whereabouts. As they get leads, the generals in charge order Dev to accompany the ladies to find Shiloh, to no avail.

One thing that Lyn has done excellently is her research on medical procedures and the new medical knowledge coming during that time. Nearly every wound gets infected, but Faith is certain that germs enter the wounds from the dirty hands of the doctors and their instruments. There is only one doctor at the hospital who believes Faith's ideas have merit; the other doctor is curmudgeonly Dr Dyson who hates Faith and her newfangled ideas.

There is a bit of romance in the book, but it's not overwhelmingly saccharine-sweet. In fact, the romance is quite understated and is only secondary to the plot. A more significant focus of the plot is the issue of abolition and slavery. Dev owns a slave that he never wanted, but he's afraid to release him because he will enlist in the Army and possibly get hurt. It makes for dramatic reading. This is a Five Star, Two Thumbs Up, and a cup of herbal tea.

My thanks to Tyndale House Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book.