Two Ways Home

Kraak’s winsome Christian historical romance traces the path of redemption by going home again. Set just before the turn of the century, the novel begins in tiny Pine Creek, Wash., a town without much to offer young people who dream of bigger things. So Mary Smith decides to go off to Portland to study music. But with her father at risk of losing their struggling dairy farm, she decides to return home and help make ends meet by milking cows by day and playing piano for miners and lumberjacks by night. Mary’s old enemy from childhood, Luke Thomas, always dreamed of becoming a Texas Ranger, but when he left Pine Creek to pursue that career, his reasons turned out to be more complicated than mere goodwill. Now he has come back home to Pine Creek, wounded, amid a heated race for sheriff. Effective flashbacks reveal a lifelong friendly antagonism between Luke and Mary, fleshing out their characters and offering perspective on the couple’s current relationship—one that appears doomed from the start. Kraak provides plenty of twists and turns in this leisurely paced fun novel centered on Christian values. (BookLife)