Review: When Sparrows Fall by Meg Moseley

From the Publisher:
A widow and mother of six, Miranda Hanford leads a quiet, private life. When the pastor of her close-knit church announces his plans to move the entire congregation to another state, Miranda jumps at the opportunity to dissolve ties with Mason Chandler and his controlling method of ruling his flock. But then Mason threatens to unearth secrets from her past, and Miranda feels trapped, terrified she’ll be unable to protect her children. College professor Jack Hanford is more than surprised when he gets a call from his estranged sister-in-law’s oldest son, Timothy, informing him that Miranda has taken a serious fall and he has been named legal guardian of her children while she recovers. Quickly charmed by Miranda’s children, Jack brings some much-needed life into the sheltered household. But his constant challenging of the family’s conservative lifestyle makes the recovering mother uneasy and defensive—despite Jack’s unnerving appeal. As Jack tries to make sense of the mysterious Miranda and the secrets she holds so tightly, Mason’s pressure on her increases. With her emotions stirring and freedom calling, can Miranda find a way to unshackle her family without losing everything?

My thoughts:
Married at 19 to her older, seemingly wiser husband Carl Hanford, Miranda finds herself stuck in a lifestyle where being a submissive wife was taken to the extreme- wives must not work outside the home, vote and so on. TV, computers and many modern conveniences were seen as sinful, etc. I'm sure everyone has heard of such extremist groups. After her husband's passing, Miranda starts looking towards freedom, but was still stuck in the church by secrets in the past. Honestly, I'm a bit afraid to say too much more about the story in case I give something away that adds to the mystery that made this such an intriguing read, so I will leave the summary at that. That being said, I could not put this book down, it was beautifully written, revealing just enough about the secrets that haunted both Miranda and her brother in law Jack, to keep you wanting to read more and more. The characters were very real, and despite their various flaws and mistakes, I felt myself sympathizing and hoping that everything would work out for them. This was truly a beautiful story, and I even being a Christian fiction, I can see it being enjoyable by a wider audience as well. I would highly recommend this book and look forward to seeing more from this author in the future.

*I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah free in exchange for this honest review. All thoughts are my own.

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