What Once Was Lost by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Genre: Fiction/Christian Romance

Pages: Paper

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

Reviewer: Jean Eastwood

JAGS: 7

Ms. Christina Willems, following in her late father’s footsteps, is the woman in charge of the “Brambleville Asylum for the Poor” in Brambleville, Kansas. One winter evening a fire breaks out at the asylum and she is forced to find temporary shelter for her only “family.” 

 

Set in the late 1800’s, times were hard, and the folks in the town of Brambleville took everyone in but the 11-year-old blind boy Tommy. Ms. Willems asks Levi Jonnson, the mill-owner in town to please take him for a short while. Levi reluctantly agrees, not really knowing how to care for the blind boy. Levi is a busy man with his mill business to run, so he sets up ropes so Tommy can find his way from the house to the other buildings. Tommy learns to clothe himself and builds confidence in his ability to take care of himself. Tommy is also learning the art of caning.

The mission director decides that now is the time for Ms. Willems to pursue another career. He not only stops the funding for the “poor farm”, but admits two of her “charges” to the Kansas Asylum for The Poor in Topeka, Kansas. Ms. Willems finds out about this and sells her father’s valuable pocket watch for train fare money to go and get the children and bring them back.

The villain here is a young man by the name of Hamilton Dresden who had also stayed at the “Brambleville Asylum for the Poor” under Ms. Willem’s direction. He is responsible for starting the fire and has been threatening Tommy with keeping that secret.

Mr. and Mrs. Dunnigan, a rich couple who adopted the two children from the Kansas Asylum for the Poor in Topeka buy the property of the “poor farm” and rebuild it. Ms. Willems has her job, her self-worth, and her father’s watch back. Levi proposes marriage to Ms. Willems and finds he can’t live alone any longer now that he has loved and cared for people in his life.

What Once was lost was a very pleasant book to read.  It was not too big and not too small. I enjoyed it and found it hard to put down. I recommend purchasing this book. It was a great weekend read.

The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr

Genre: Fiction

 

Pages: Paper

 

Publisher: Carroll & Graf

 

JAGS: 7

 

The services of Sherlock Holmes and his trusted friend Dr. John Watson are needed once again by the British Realm to solve a perplexing case of supernatural proportions. Enlisted by Holmes’s brother Mycroft under the Queens direct order, the detectives travel to Scotland after receiving a cryptic message from the elder Holmes. Almost immediately, the pair is thrust into what appears to be the brewing of international espionage as the train ride from London is attacked by spies.

Reaching the royal residence of Holyroodhouse, or as it is more simply known by British subjects as Palace of Holyrood, Holmes and Watson stumble on what could quiet possibly be the strangest case yet. The ghost of Rizzo is said to be haunting the West Tower and all of the Queens staff knows all too well the comings and goings of the specter of Holyrood.

Caleb Carr wows readers once again with his poetic styling of 18^th century England as he resurrects the famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in The Italian Secretary. Caleb Carr does not have the clinical syntax of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Dr. Watson, but executes beautifully the subtle nuisances of the relationship between the detectives. Carr’s interpretation honors the Holmes legacy and would make any Sherlock fan proud to read. A definite must read if you are a Holmes fanatic.