All Things New

In this latest historical novel from the multiple Christy Award–winning author (Hidden Places), Josephine Weatherly, her family, their Virginia neighbors, and their former slaves must find a way to adopt a new way of thinking to survive after the Civil War. Josephine willingly embraces the opportunity to work with her hands and to get to know former slaves Lizzie and Otis, who stay on to work at the plantation to give their children an opportunity to attend school. Josephine’s widowed mother, Eugenia, is horrified, however. Slaves, whom she must now call “servants,” should know their place. She dreams instead of rebuilding the South just as it was and of finding husbands for her daughters. Along the way, Josephine helps a neighbor who has lost the will to live after being crippled in battle and starts to question her brother Daniel’s involvement in some unpleasant activities. She also strikes up a friendship with Freedman’s Bureau agent Alexander Chandler. Can this Yankee Quaker help her rediscover the faith she lost in a God who cares? The Reconstruction-era South is realistically recreated, but a detached narrative style and a predictable plot hinder fuller character development. (Oct.)