Synopsis of the book:
A woman with no future.
A man with no hope.
A God who knows the key to their deepest need lies in each other…
Wyoming Territories, 1860. Gloria is in trouble. A mining camp is a merciless place when you’re young, pregnant…and a prostitute. No matter. Life will not defeat her.
John William McGregan is in despair. His beloved wife died in childbirth. And while John is a resourceful man, raising an infant daughter on his own seems impossible.
Thrown together by a seemingly cruel fate, Gloria and John William make a pact: She will nurse his daughter; he will raise her son. Neither asks for marriage. They are joined by necessity, nothing more.
But after a move to the new Oregon territory, facing John William’s faith day after day, and receiving an older woman’s motherly mentoring, Gloria longs for something more. For the love she’s been denied all her life. If only that life hadn’t made her unfit, not only for John William…but for God.
Then tragedy strikes—making even the resolute John William question his faith. Terrified, Gloria turns to the One she has never been able to trust. But can even God save what now means more to Gloria than life itself: her newfound family?
My review:
Ten Thousands Charms was such an emotionally gripping story that I had trouble putting it down. But even when I had to work and do other things, I was still thinking about the story. I know so many women like Gloria who have been so hurt that they are emotionally dead inside and when someone offers them hope, they are terrified. I could totally see that struggle in Gloria and it was a beautiful thing to watch how God slowly wooed her to Himself through the love of believers. And while no one in this story was even close to perfect, they were totally believeable and likeable characters. John William was heroic in so many ways even with the flaws he carried with him. And Gloria was such a good mother to the babies. It was impossible not to grow to love her as she cared for the children and learned how to take care of herself and her "family," which was the one thing she never believed she would experience in her lifetime. My eyes filled with tears every time Gloria took a tiny step in faith. There were so many things she learned, and the reader learns along with her as she learns to trust. The author also does a fantastic job writing the male point of view and the intense emotions John and Gloria both felt, both positive and negative. I highly recommend this story because it nurtures both the heart and the spirit, and because I loved, loved, loved it!
Ten Thousand Charms was published by Multnomah and released in 2006.
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