Author: Lori Wick
Series: The English Garden Series: Book One
A moving story of Christ's love at work in the most stubborn of hearts.
William Jennings is a handsome, successful, wealthy bachelor and is quite happy caring for only himself. He has never desired marriage, although he longs to have a son of his own. When a relative of his dies leaving him the guardian of two young boys and a little girl, he believes all of his dreams have come true- and all without the hassle of a wife!
However Jennings soon finds after a terrible oversight which jepardises the safety the little girl, that he is ill-equipt to deal with turns to his sister for help.
After spending time with his sister, Lydia and meeting her best friend - a beautiful young woman named Marianne, Jennings begins to see that perhaps there is more to life than what he thought and that maybe he does need God in his life.
This novel is set in 1810, London, England and has a decidedly Jane Austen feel about it. It is a wonderful beginning to the series and although sometimes it hard to keep up with whos-who in the characters, you quickly become aquainted with some truly inspiring characters. This is a book I would recommend as a pre-cursor to young readers before reading Jane Austen. I love this series particularly because it has so much Christian content and as the characters developed in their faith I to felt I grew in the same way.
The only criticism I would give on this book is, I didn't mind, at first that a few of the characters had very Austen-ish names, for example there is a Mr Collins, the Palmers, the Jennings but when the names like Bates, Knightely, Dashwood and Augusta popped up, not to mention Marianne having a sister named Elinore and Marianne at one stage spraining her ankle- I confess it was a little too much. However I am willing to believe that perhaps Lori Wick is an Austen fan and wanted to represent that in her work- I cannot blame her for that.
If you get the chance to read this book, I highly recomend it- its quite easy to read and although it is predictable its a sweet story.
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