A Promise in Pieces by Emily T. Wierenga - REVEIWED

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing

About the Book:

A baby quilt touches many hearts as it travels from family-to-family and through generations.

After the end of World War II, Clara Kirkpatrick returns from the Women’s Army Corp to deliver a dying soldier’s last wishes: convey his love to his young widow, Mattie, with apologies for the missed life they had planned to share.

Struggling with her own post-war trauma, Clara thinks she’s not prepared to handle the grief of this broken family. Yet upon meeting Mattie, and receiving a baby quilt that will never cuddle the soldier’s baby, Clara vows to honor the sacrifices that family made.

Now a labor and delivery nurse in her rural hometown, Clara wraps each new babe in the gifted quilt and later stitches the child’s name into the cloth. As each new child is welcomed by the quilt, Clara begins to wonder whatever happened to Mattie—and if her own life would ever experience the love of a newborn. Little does she know that she will have the opportunity to re-gift the special quilt—years later and carrying even greater significance than when it was first bestowed.

My Thoughts:

“Courage to Care, Courage to Connect, Courage to Change.”  (p. 25)

The Nurse’s Creed Clara learned when she became a Nurse serving in the Army during WWII, becomes an accurate portrayal of her life in Emily Wierenga’s debut novel , A Promise in Pieces.   This novel is such a tender, poignant picture of Clara’s life from her headstrong young adulthood to her days as a woman full of years and grace.  I can honestly say this novel has touched something  deep within my heart.  I’ve witnessed forgiveness, grace, mercy and redemption in equal measure in my walk along the lif-path of Clara as she tells her story.

I don’t want to give ANYTHING away, but this novel is PACKED.  Every life circumstance is seen from an almost divine perspective.  Because it is told in remembrance  the reader is able to understand the fullness of the experience.  Each friendship, each loss, each victory, each challenge, all of it is literally woven into the tapestry of this story.  You will laugh.  You will cry.  You will sing.  You will rejoice.  Truly, as concise as this book is, it contains a lifetime that will impact your heart in a powerful way!!

The story never felt rushed.  Never felt scattered.  It is a rich, full story of Clara’s life that is…simply amazing!! And this is a debut novel folks!! There is more to come!! I can’t WAIT!!!

About the Author:

Emily Wierenga is a former editor, ghostwriter, freelance writer and staff journalist, a monthly columnist for The Christian Courier, and the author of Save My Children (Castle Quay Books, 2008), Chasing Silhouettes (Ampelon Publishing, 2012) and Mom in the Mirror (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013). Emily resides in Alberta, Canada. This is her first novel.