Saturday Morning Book

Broken by life’s disappointments, four women forge a friendship that leads in unexpected directions.

Hope Benson is determined to do all she can for the broken souls who come to Casa de Jesus, a women’s shelter in the heart of San Francisco. When a difficult pregnancy forces her to relinquish control, she draws support and strength from an unlikely group of women, each struggling with her own heartbreak.

Andy Taylor, a reluctant transplant to California, was compelled to leave behind her lavender-growing business and her home of twenty-some years to support her workaholic husband’s pursuit of career success. Attorney Julia Collins is searching for her teenage granddaughter, believed to be living on the streets. And Clarice Van Dam’s life has been shattered by the disappearance of her husband, who appears to have relieved her of all earthly possessions except a fur coat and her overnight bag.

Drawn together at the weekend market held in the shelter’s parking lot, the women pool their resources to fend off an unscrupulous conglomerate that threatens to replace the facility with a commercial development. As they fight to retain this haven for women in need, they find their own longings for home answered by the solace of faith and friendship.

Publishers Weekly

Prolific writer Snelling offers another round of light inspirational fiction, this time following four women whose lives intersect at J House, a San Francisco women's shelter. Andy struggles to figure out how to love a workaholic husband whose job has transferred him, threatening to take her away from the family homestead and her own profitable lavender farm. Hope runs J House with her husband, Roger, and longs for children of her own. Julia is despondent about a granddaughter who has run away, and Clarice has been ditched by her second husband, who drained their bank accounts and vanished, leaving her to fend for herself in a new city. The women become a prayer support group for each other, witnessing miraculous solutions to each situation. J House becomes the concern that unites them all when it is threatened by hostile takeover from developers and by reclamation from the city for not meeting earthquake codes. Snelling weaves the four stories into one compelling whole, set against the somewhat sanitized backdrop of the shelter. The characters fail to be distinct, each speaking with largely the same voice, but no doubt Snelling's loyal fan base will welcome these women as friends. (Sept. 20) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.