Keturah

Back Cover

In 1772 England, Lady Keturah Banning Tomlinson and her sisters find themselves the heiresses of their father's estates and know they have one option:  Go to the West Indies to save what is left of their heritage.

Although it flies against all the conventions, they're determined to make their own way in the world.  But once they arrive in the Caribbean, conventions are the least of their concerns.  On the infamous island of Nevis, the sisters discover the legacy of the legendary sugar barons has vastly declined - and that's just the start of what their eyes are opened to in this harsh and unfamiliar world.

Keturah never intends to put herself at the mercy of a man again, but every man on the island seems to be trying to win her hand and, with it, the ownership of her plantation.  She could desperately use an ally, but even an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend leaves her questioning his motives.

To keep her family together and save the plantation that is her last chance at providing for them, can Keturah ever surrender her stubbornness and guarded heart to God and find the healing and love awaiting her?

Review

I've been a fan of Lisa T. Bergren's work for awhile now.  Her series, "Rivers of Time" is one of the best young adult works I've ever read.  Seriously.  You don't have to been a young teen to enjoy a sweeping, romantic, suspenseful, time-travel series!  So it was with great expectations that I began reading Keturah, the first novel in "The Sugar Baron's Daughters" series.  I'm happy to report that I was not disappointed!

With breath-taking descriptions, Bergren draws readers back in time to the 1700s, the time of slavery, dangerous travel in the high seas, unpredictable occupations of running a sugar plantation, and when death by fever was a very real probability.  It required a certain kind of man to have the strength and courage to make a living by harvesting sugar cane in a land where law and order was quite questionable, and for a woman to embark on such an adventure would be seen as nothing short of foolhardy.  Because of these elements, Keturah is everything an adventure story needs to be.  It is dramatic, loaded with solid, spiritual gems, romantic, thrilling, and all together page-turning.  In fact, I've already started to read through it a second time (and am enjoying it just as much)! 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.