When in the world are you finding time to read with all of this traveling!
Reviews
2
Recently, I signed up for a blog review grab bag hoping I would be the recipient of one of the historical fiction titles being offered. Imagine my delight to find Yesterday’s Promise, second in the East of the Sun series, by Linda Lee Chaikin in my mailbox. The setting for this book is the 1800 English colonization of Africa and the establishment of Rhodesia. We are nearing this time period in our history studies which made receiving this particular book even more exciting!!
I had some difficulty jumping into this book because there are a lot of characters, geographical locations, and plots going on which I initially found confusing (by the end of the book I had looked up definitions so many times I no longer mixed up the induna and impis so the confusion wasn’t all bad – lol). I don’t know if my confusion was because I didn’t read the first book, or because I was on vacation and couldn’t spend a length of time getting settled into it, or if it’s the author’s normal style to have so many characters and plots right from the start. I would have really appreciated a family tree or cast of characters like Cynthia Woodsmall’s books and I would have appreciated a map such as is found in the Mitford series. That being said, the author did include a chronology from the Boers arriving at the Cape in 1600 through 1910 when the Union of South Africa was formed. I didn’t find this particularly helpful in deciphering the story, but it was helpful to put the actual setting of this story into the correct historical sequence of events.
I was hooked from the very first chapter and remained captivated all the way to the end! I’m currently on the hunt for the first book in the series, Tomorrow’s Treasure and I plan to check out the last book, Today’s Embrace from our library this weekend. I enjoyed the author’s short historical note at the end of the book explaining her research and how she incorporated historical individuals as well as fictional lead characters into her East of the Sun triology. I will DEFINITELY be checking out some of her other historical fiction books starting with her ones on Arabia and India.
PUBLISHER’S REVIEW:
He fought to seek his fortune.
Would he lose a greater treasure: the love he left behind?
As the son of the squire of Grimston Way, aristocrat Rogan Chantry has fought hard to win his independence from Sir Julien Bley and the British South Africa Company. Now, his pursuit of a mysterious deposit of gold, marked on a map willed to him by his murdered uncle, Henry Chantry, is challenged by a new complication: the impending British colonization of South Africa. Can Sir Rogan find the gold in the midst of escalating tensions among the native tribesmen, the missionaries sent to win them, and the new colonists?
Meanwhile, Evy Varley, the woman Rogan loves back in England, is headed for a brave yet dangerous confrontation with Henry’s killer–but at what price? With so much against Rogan and Evy, a reunion seems improbable, if not impossible. Can yesterday’s promise hold them faithful to the hope of future freedom and a victorious love?
AUTHOR’S BIO:
Linda Lee Chaikin has written numerous best-selling and award-winning books and series, including the Silk series (Heart of India Trilogy), A Day to Remember series, The Empire Builders, Royal Pavilion Trilogy, Arabian Winds Trilogy, The Buccaneers Trilogy, and For Whom the Stars Shine, a finalist for the Christy Award. She and her husband make their home in Northern California.
Disclaimer: This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
