The Amber Photograph: Newly Repackaged Edition Book

What a surprisingly good book! I can't remember now why I bought it or why it has sat for so long on my TBR shelf. However, I am so glad that I picked it up. A story so real, yet not graphic. The worst possible things to happen to a family, and author Penelope J. Stokes writes strong. In a rare display by a writer, Stokes writes honestly, without pulling any punches, yet the reader is not offended or horrified. I felt everything I am positive that Stokes intended her readers to feel: sadness, anger, happiness; all right when I was supposed to feel them. I felt empathy for the characters who deserved it as well as pity and disgust for those who warranted it.

There were some parts of the story that seemed to move slowly, but the feeling didn't last long. I was unaware that the author was a writer of Christian fiction until about halfway through the novel. It is unusual to hear many God references in contemporary fiction, particularly in relation to actual religion as opposed to as an expletive. Rather than making me feel slightly uncomfortable, as such references in fiction tend to do, I highly enjoyed the ties of faith into the story. The characters of Father Susan and Sam Houston were my favorites and many of their insights and spoken phrases really hit home and made me smile. A very lovely story.