Title: Eve’s Daughters
Author: Lynn Austin
Major Themes: Germany, Pennsylvania, Marriage, Solo Parenting
Synopsis: When long-buried secrets are discovered, will lives be torn apart—or healed?
Every year I do a reading challenge that has a prompt for each month. The prompt this month was a book with more than two points of view. As I perused our shelves, I found Eve’s Daughters by Lynn Austin, which I had been wanting to read for a while anyway. So, a few days ago, I picked it up and began. Last night, I stayed up late to finish it.
Publisher’s description:
Is there a secret terrible enough that it should never be revealed, not even if it was tearing a family apart? For more than five decades Emma Bauer has kept one—carefully guarding it with all her strength, and for more than five decades that choice has haunted her life and also the lives of her daughters and granddaughter. Is it too late for wrongs to be righted? Does Emma even have the strength to let the healing power of truth work in her family?
The story of four generations of women and the powerful effects that their choices have had on their lives is at the heart of Eve’s Daughters, an epic novel from author Lynn Austin. Grand in scope but tender and personal at the same time, it will please you as a fan of contemporary or historical fiction.
Exploring times from World War I to the 1980s, Eve’s Daughters is an insightful look at mothers, daughters, sisters, and families that allows you to see a little bit of yourself through the characters’ triumphs, struggles, and hard-tested faith.
Yearning for love, dignity, and freedom, the four generations of women must come to terms with the choices they have made. Healing comes when the past is forgiven but only when they embrace God’s forgiveness can they shatter the cycle that has ruled their lives over the decades.
My thoughts:
I found myself quite engrossed with the stories of all these women. Each one had a different set of life experiences and challenges, and each one reacted differently to those challenges. Taken all together, though, all these disparate stories made one story that contributed to understanding how each woman had become what she was. There were beautiful examples of love in this book, and of selfishness. Some of the people responded to hard situations by becoming loving and gentle, while others became harsh and angry.
I’ve found myself thinking about Eve’s Daughters a lot in the week or two since I finished reading it. (Yes, it is taking me a while to get this review written!) Of the dozen books I finished this month, this one is my favorite, not because it is a feel-good story, but because of the depth. I loved watching each of the women learn and grow, both in their relationships with others and in their love for God, in the course of the story.
If you read the warnings, you will notice that there are several references to marital intimacy. There was another scene in which an unmarried couple spent a night together, resulting in pregnancy. All these scenes were carefully written, though, and I would not have a problem with my upper-teenage daughter reading this book.
WARNING: Chapter 2: Allusion to marital intimacy. Chapter 3: Thoughts about marital intimacy. Chapter 15: Demands for marital rights. Chapter 16: Attempted abortion. Chapter 24: Darn, geez. Chapter 25: Gee, kissing, like blazes, rioters hurt in battle with police. Chapter 26: Gee.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Audible Audiobook (unabridged) | Audio CD (unabridged)
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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