First of all, I picked this book up and then immediately turned to put it back. The cover is simply dreadful. It looks like a really bad road show setup for a comedy--which it definitely is not. It's a shame that the author didn't consult someone knowledgeable about the cover. The book would have greatly benefited by a fantastic cover.
The other thing the book needed is a little light editing, which is interesting since it was written by a twelve-magazine publisher.
The pluses far outweigh the minuses. This is a work of fiction, but is about real people and situations. I enjoyed this book because the early English Saints came alive for me. I previously hadn't had much knowledge of those early converts to the LDS church and the spectacular things they did. Imagine converting five hundred people to your new church in one mission!
Wilford Woodruff was an amazing person. The story of his conversion begins with my husband's ancestor, Zerah Pulsipher, another outstanding man with an amazing story. How I would have loved to hear about the gospel from their lips.
I found it incredible that people entrenched in their own beliefs could in one day lay those ideas aside and adopt a whole new way of thinking, a completely new life. Many lost livelihoods, family members, inheritances, homes and sometimes even lives to adopt a church which bucked the common order. This book lays out how the Lord prepared the people of that time and made them ready for harvest like wheat in the fields. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in such a religious pressure cooker. This book helps.
The main story deals with Bobby and Hannah Harris, and Daniel and Elisabeth Browett, forebears of the author. We follow them from their own various religions into the United Brethren (a church I had heard very little of before), and into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bobby, especially, had his life mapped out for him, with religion standing a distant last in his plans for being Heavyweight Boxing Champion of Britain. We've all got friends or relatives (or ourselves) who drive themselves to succeed, to the exclusion of all else.
I liked Wilford Woodruff's take on missionary work. He said, "Missionary work is more effective when we cling to those things that have been revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Use the Book of Mormon, and declare everything that has been restored in the latter-days such as the priesthood, temples, and the nature of God.
The message of the Restoration centers on the idea that it is not common ground we seek in sharing the gospel. There is nothing common about our message. The way we answer questions about our faith ought to be by finding the quickest and most direct route to the Sacred Grove, meaning the story of how God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph. That is our ground. It is sacred ground. It is where testimonies are born and the greatest truths of Heaven are unveiled.
We have not built upon the theological rubble of the past. All that we have has come by direct revelation in the latter days."
The book is full of interesting information. For instance, I'd never heard of the Diggers and Levelers. I have heard of the Shakers, however. One section of the book lays out the history of the Christian religion in a somewhat more understandable, simple way.
It looks as though I'm going to have to get the rest of the series to find out how it all worked out for the two main couples.
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