Beauty for Ashes

It is 1876 and the Civil War has changed many people's lives. Carrie is a widow living with her brother on their farm in Hickory Ridge, Griff is a man who comes and goes, running from the past and his family. Griff follows a lady into town, and what happens next changes the lives of many people in Hickory Ridge. It is a story of the struggle to surrender one's dreams and desires to God when it seems like they will never come true, and learning what being part of a family really means.

I enjoyed reading this book. The characters were well developed, and if anything, I wish it could have gone one more chapter so that the reader could see how everything works out. Instead, our imagination is left to wonder how Carrie's nephews turn out and how her sister in law manages to learn how to run a farm. It was interesting to read the descriptions of Charleston before it recovered from the Civil War and the prejudice people had towards members of society. I had trouble putting this book down and the characters were written so you could relate with them and think they may have been friends.