"Sophie's Heart" by Lori Wick

Lori Wick is a prolific writer who's accomplishments in the writing world are extrodinary. While I believe you can pick up any book she has written and enjoy it I am going back to the beginning and am going to talk about "Sophie's Heart", her writing debut.

Here's the blip -

After the tragic death of his wife, Alec Riley struggles to put his life back together. He and his three children are lost in their grief...until Sophie walks unexpectedly into their lives. Having left her native Czechoslovakia, Sophie has discovered the land which seemed so bright with promise is far from her dream. A highly educated woman, Sophie now finds herself keeping house for Alec and his family
How can Sophie find peace in her new job? Will God use her gentle spirit to help heal Alec’s broken heart?

This was a moving, endearing story about a person stepping out in faith and overcoming amazing obstacles through faith in God to triumph in the end. I was captivated and enthralled with the characters and situations and read with a sense of urgency to find out what would happen. It is definitely Christian fiction, but I never felt preached at, if anything the conversations about God and Christianity were handled so beautifully that several points were made that were like revelation knowledge to me. I highly recommend reading 2 conversations in particular for a fresh look at a couple of Christian topics. A conversation between Sophie and Brad in the 2nd half of chapter 24 is well written about legalism. And in the beginning of chapter 51 there is a conversation between Sophie and Alec about sin. I actually used that in a talk I gave at church last week because it so beautifully illustrated some wonderful truths about sin and Christ's work on the cross.

Sophie's Heart is a beautifully crafted story of love, family and redemption. If you have never read or haven't read it in a long time, I encourage you to discover this treasure!