Lauraine reads: Miracle in a Dry Season

Winter is a fine time for reading, as we all know, but I offer to you the suggestion that any time is a fine time for reading. Yes, I do understand, the more you read, the more you want to read and that sounds a bit addictive. Catching a cold virus gave me permission to read, read, read, and so I did. I read about elephants and dogs, the Civil War, the Great War, the Bush family, and both suspense and mystery novels. Strangely the-to-be-read pile seems to be growing taller.

Just a little side note: As I was writing this article, a creeper stabbed something into the bark of the pine tree outside of my window, and then worried the case off of it, drop that and ate the good stuff. Now that folks, is a real treat. I love my birds, along with books.

From all of the above mentioned books, including some written by my author friends, I chose a brand new author to share with you today. Her name is Sarah Loudin Thomas and Miracle in a Dry Season is her first novel. She’s a free-lance writer with some rather major credits, so she is already a pro. Miracle makes her even more so. I heard about her from my agent Wendy Lawton, who, like me, loves to talk about the books she’s read. She raved about this one and now I know why.

I have a hard time thinking of Miracle in a Dry Season as historical since it is set in 1954, but we won’t go into the reasons for that. I love the name of the town Sarah chose for her setting, Wise, West Virginia. So yes, this could be termed a southern book. The characters grabbed my heart from the first page, small town folk going about their lives during a drought. That got my interest since we in California are experiencing the same thing; crops dying in the fields and ranchers selling off cattle and livestock because they have nothing to feed them.

For a time the folks of Wise help each other out, but what do you do when the cupboards and cellars are getting bare and the garden has died? And then a stranger comes to town. Pearla Long wants nothing more than to not be noticed, but her love of cooking brings out a gift she has been given –whatever she cooks stretches to feed everyone present. One would think that the townsfolk would be grateful for such blessings, but people can be funny when someone is different and rumors spread like fire ants.

I hope you enjoy this tale as much as I did, and that, like me, you find yourself thinking back to it over and over. Good books are like that. Sarah Loudin Thomas has such a distinctive style, I look forward to reading her again.

For my news, my next book comes out the end of February. A Harvest of Hope continues the saga of the Bjorklund families in Blessing, ND. Come join me on Facebook or on my website http://www.laurainesnelling.com to keep up with my escapades and even some ponderings. Winter is a good time to ponder, or perhaps it has more to do with the piling up of years. Happy reading and writing to you all.