When Quenby’s family moves from their missionary life in Africa to mid 19th century San Antonio, the cultural adjustment is large. Her preachy father, her upright, social climbing mother, and her playful, ribbon-loving little sister, all seem to adjust fine. But the intelligent, curious Quenby, having had to give up her school teacher job on the mission, is at a loose end, bored, and anxious to do more than sip tea with her mother’s friends.
Secretly railing against the confines of a young woman’s life, she leaps at the chance to help Jonathan, a local farmer, sort out his financial troubles.
But is Jonathan grateful for having the outspoken and quick-to-act Quenby pry into his affairs, and discover a secret he’s carried and been ashamed of all his life? Not one bit.
Find Accepted here.
And then there’s the other business Quenby finds herself involved in, with far more at stake than a farm. But Quenby is nothing if not resourceful, and with a great deal of sometimes misguided pluck, she steps up to the challenges. In the process, she learns a lot about herself, her faith, and the true meaning of love.
As with her other novels in this series, Ms Peckham gives us flawed characters who come alive to the extent we often want to take them aside and offer some ‘kind advice’; an historical setting which makes you feel you are there in the frontier town and the surrounding countryside; and a plot which twists this way and that, often with your heart in your mouth over what might happen next. There is real history here, too, which is very much integral to the tale and gives the reader insights into the horrors faced by African American slaves and those who tried to help them.
Accepted is a well-paced tale with humour, drama, emotion, history and humanity – and a lot of love, not only the romantic kind.
Highly recommended.
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