What do you think?
The Common Hours
In Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 1888, the lumber industry is turning ordinary citizens into millionaires. John and Mary Richardson and their daughter, Sarah, live a privileged life on millionaire row. It's one week before Sarah's fourteenth birthday when Mary is caught in an affair with the local minister. Change is happening and Sarah is powerless to stop it. Mary returns to a forgotten past where she hopes to find resolution. Sarah loses everything familiar to her when her father moves them to a small village in the north wilderness to escape the Williamsport gossip. It is a year that will change them in unexpected ways.
220 pages, Paperback
First published June 3, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 20, 2025
There are 4 types of inspirational fiction. 1) the type that inspires me as a writer, yet not as a Christian, 2) the type that inspires me as both a writer and a Christian (think Sons of Blackbird Mountain by Joanne Bischof), 3) the type that inspires me as a Christian, yet not as a writer, and 4) the type that inspires me as neither.
This book falls into the third category, and I'll explain why.
Plot: It felt disjointed and forced. The frequent POV shifts distracted me; I like dual-POV stories, but only when it's clearly labeled at the beginning of the section who will be speaking.
The bit where Sarah's father fell into the ravine and got injured didn't cause any major repercussions. It felt like it was thrown in the story merely to up the conflict. It felt misplaced, too, because it was bang, right before the fire, and then John was running around like nothing had happened. I mean, what is the point in leaving your character to get injured in a ravine, if there are no serious consequences? An event like that should drive at least a chapter's worth of conflict, in my opinion.
It felt like a lot of major plot threads were left unresolved...? I don't know if the author's planning to do a sequel, but seeing as it's been 10 years since this one was published, I don't see another one coming anytime soon. Thus, I'll treat it as a standalone novel. Lots of unresolved plot threads. The bit about where Sarah broke all the windows of the church, it seemed like foreshadowing to something later. And then nothing ever came of it.
And Mary/Leia never actually got back to her family. I get the impression that she would, soon, but she never actually did. Will Leia's mother never get to meet Sarah?
Were there no lasting consequences of her getting attacked by the panther?? A panther would go straight for one's throat, not randomly chew on their arm like a dog. The "attacked by the panther & saved by a specific person" trope is way overused in inspirational fiction set in the historical American wilderness. I liked the internal conflict that was caused by the panther-slayer, though. That was good.
It was a crazy coincidence that Claythorn showed up in their town, out of millions of other towns. Believable? Nope. Good for generating plot conflict? Absolutely.
Characters: I liked how the author made readers sympathize with Claythorn at the end without simply excusing his actions.
Sarah and John were splendidly written characters. They lived and I truly enjoyed reading about the two of them.
Kassie seemed kind of useless. Yes, she was Sarah's friend. But she didn't advance the plot. She didn't cause or resolve conflict. She was bland; a cardboard cutout of a character, rather than a living girl, as Sarah was.
Leia's conversion seemed believable and actually well-written; I was shocked. It's incredibly hard to find respectfully written, believable conversion scenes in contemporary-written fiction.
Prose: The author needs a professional editor who will make her use commas. WAY more commas - I gave up counting the places that needed a comma.
There was a lot of telling rather than showing, ie., blandly informing us "Caroline was shocked," rather than showing us, "Caroline's jaw dropped. It couldn't be. Her basket of apples fell, forgotten, as she ran towards her daughter, arms open wide." The story would improve 100% with more showing.
This was a decent story. But it could have been so much better. With a team of alpha & beta readers, plus a few rounds of professional editing, this book would shine. It reminds me a bit of the story style of Joanne Bischof.
This book falls into the third category, and I'll explain why.
Plot: It felt disjointed and forced. The frequent POV shifts distracted me; I like dual-POV stories, but only when it's clearly labeled at the beginning of the section who will be speaking.
The bit where Sarah's father fell into the ravine and got injured didn't cause any major repercussions. It felt like it was thrown in the story merely to up the conflict. It felt misplaced, too, because it was bang, right before the fire, and then John was running around like nothing had happened. I mean, what is the point in leaving your character to get injured in a ravine, if there are no serious consequences? An event like that should drive at least a chapter's worth of conflict, in my opinion.
It felt like a lot of major plot threads were left unresolved...? I don't know if the author's planning to do a sequel, but seeing as it's been 10 years since this one was published, I don't see another one coming anytime soon. Thus, I'll treat it as a standalone novel. Lots of unresolved plot threads. The bit about where Sarah broke all the windows of the church, it seemed like foreshadowing to something later. And then nothing ever came of it.
And Mary/Leia never actually got back to her family. I get the impression that she would, soon, but she never actually did. Will Leia's mother never get to meet Sarah?
Were there no lasting consequences of her getting attacked by the panther?? A panther would go straight for one's throat, not randomly chew on their arm like a dog. The "attacked by the panther & saved by a specific person" trope is way overused in inspirational fiction set in the historical American wilderness. I liked the internal conflict that was caused by the panther-slayer, though. That was good.
It was a crazy coincidence that Claythorn showed up in their town, out of millions of other towns. Believable? Nope. Good for generating plot conflict? Absolutely.
Characters: I liked how the author made readers sympathize with Claythorn at the end without simply excusing his actions.
Sarah and John were splendidly written characters. They lived and I truly enjoyed reading about the two of them.
Kassie seemed kind of useless. Yes, she was Sarah's friend. But she didn't advance the plot. She didn't cause or resolve conflict. She was bland; a cardboard cutout of a character, rather than a living girl, as Sarah was.
Leia's conversion seemed believable and actually well-written; I was shocked. It's incredibly hard to find respectfully written, believable conversion scenes in contemporary-written fiction.
Prose: The author needs a professional editor who will make her use commas. WAY more commas - I gave up counting the places that needed a comma.
There was a lot of telling rather than showing, ie., blandly informing us "Caroline was shocked," rather than showing us, "Caroline's jaw dropped. It couldn't be. Her basket of apples fell, forgotten, as she ran towards her daughter, arms open wide." The story would improve 100% with more showing.
This was a decent story. But it could have been so much better. With a team of alpha & beta readers, plus a few rounds of professional editing, this book would shine. It reminds me a bit of the story style of Joanne Bischof.
July 19, 2019
Wonderful historical fiction set in a beautiful hidden place.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews