**I received a complimentary copy of this book for my consideration. Post contains affiliate links. All thoughts are 100% my own.
When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know.
In Mike's absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike's safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. In the tumult of this time, Annie and her family grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Author Susie Finkbeiner invites you into the Jacobson family's home and hearts during a time in which the chaos of the outside world touched their small community in ways they never imagined.
Susie Finkbeiner is the CBA bestselling author of A Cup of Dust, A Trail of Crumbs, and A Song of Home. She serves on the Breathe Christian Writers Conference planning committee, volunteers her time at Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and speaks at retreats and women's events across the state. Susie and her husband have three children and live in West Michigan.
When thinking about all of my favorite books past and present, I have found what makes a story for me is that it draws me in and makes me feel that I am there. Whether that is a place and time that I have experienced myself or not, a good story has the ability to make me feel as though I have with scenes that are given with such detail I can picture just how it must have been and characters that are so well developed they feel 100% real. From the very start, this book did all of that capturing my interest and transporting me back to a time I know only from history books and the bits and pieces I've picked up on TV- the time of Vietnam War.
This is such a beautiful story of family and life in the 1960s. As a child of the 90s, there were some iconic pop culture references that I did of course recognize, but it also gave me a completely new perspective on what the actual day to day life might have been like for your typical small town family living during this time. While quite removed from our more technology driven life, at it's core we realize that human emotions have not changed much. Seeing the aftermath of war through the eyes of these characters during Vietnam, we can also see that it can be very much the same for soldiers, Marines and sailors returning today. As a military spouse, this is something that I see more than others, but I think even today there are people who don't fully grasp how war can affect not only the person fighting, but those family members left behind as well. It is a topic that is still very much relevant today.
The characters that Susie created truly drew me in and had me wanting to know how their lives were going to go throughout the story. They are written not as perfect individuals, but as real ones- with their strengths, their faults and their own issues to work through...each unique in and of themselves creating quite realistic interactions and scenarios. It was a beautifully written story and one that I was glad to have experienced for myself.
I don't want to give too much away, and truth be told there is nothing that I could say to truly capture just what a great story this truly was, but I would certainly recommend it to all. There is just a hint of romance--- enough to please those of us who are the big romantics, but not enough to bother those that aren't a fan of that genre. It's a story full of love... but it's the love of this family instead. Have a box of tissues handy, and fall in love with this beautiful family just as I did. You will not be disappointed. I cannot wait to see what comes next from this author.
All Manner of Things is available to purchase now at your favorite Christian book retailers.
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