A Lady Like Sarah by Margaret Brownley

This is a guest post by Tina L. Scott (formerly Miller). Tina is a freelance photographer from Merrill, Wisconsin with a passion for writing. She can be reached at PhotographyByTina.com


Book
A Lady Like Sarah

Author
Margaret Brownley

The Review
A Lady Like Sarah is not your average romance novel. In fact, Sarah Prescott is hardly what anyone would even call a lady—at least back in 1879 when this story takes place. Bold and opinionated, unconventional—to say the least, and unsophisticated are more apt adjectives to describe her. Wearing men’s britches and shirts, a pair of red cowboy boots, and a hat that hides all of her fiery red hair, Sarah is often mistaken for a man. She walks like a man, talks like a man, and tries to prove she’s every bit as tough as any man alive.

Raised as an orphan by her three outlaw brothers, she lacks an education in both proper speech and grammar—and manners and etiquette appropriate for a woman. So it’s not surprising that she stands out like a sore thumb which makes it easy for her to be apprehended by the law and quickly convicted of criminal activity. And now she is being escorted back to Rocky Creek, Texas, by a U.S. Marshal intent on seeing that justice is served.

And that is when the novel’s main male character, the 32-year-old Reverend Justin Wells from Boston, first meets Sarah. A handsome young preacher not that much older than she, Sarah can’t help but notice his good looks and Godly ways—or the striking contrast between them. He is a law-abiding, do-the-right-thing kind of guy who depends on God to direct his ways and show mercy on everyone. And she is an outlaw, renegade, on-the-run kind of gal who doesn’t believe God heard her prayers for her parents as a child and no longer has much use for a God who would leave a child an orphan.

But together they are thrown into a collection of unusual circumstances and must face multiple dilemmas of practical survival and faith. And each of these main characters will ultimately grow in his and her faith by the end of the story, but not before enduring heartbreak and being tested to the limit and learning that they must both believe in miracles. And this can be a very hard, impractical thing to do given the circumstances at the time.

Margaret Brownley’s writing is whimsical and unconventional, incorporating lots of fun similes throughout her writing. Some were hokey, others amusing, and many original—and they helped to lighten the mood in what otherwise might have been a somber novel. Some of my favorites are “solemn as soap,” “useless as a bucket under a bull,” and “thin as a snake on stilts.” These comparisons—along with Brownley’s knack for capturing the vernacular of the various characters and their unsophisticated way of speaking—helped bring this story to life.

I loved that in this novel, even when it seemed like it couldn’t possibly be so, justice does prevail. It was also wonderful to watch Sarah’s faith blossom and grow like the simple faith of a child. And to see God’s miracles at work—not only in the proclaimed miracles that were cited in this book—but also in the very fact that Sarah and Justin met by God’s grace and intervention and He used them to help each other and to find love and grow their faith.

I highly recommend this story as a good “read for pleasure” book and also a story of substance and faith. Anyone who loves westerns will enjoy this one. And she’ll probably race through reading it like a horse with its hooves on fire!

Order A Lady Like Sarah Today!

Disclosure: The reviewer received a complimentary copy of the book to review.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

This post was sponsored by The Dabbling Mum.

For more articles like this, check out The Dabbling Mum eMagazine.