The Scarlet Thread in Christian Readers

Mar 09, 2025 Kymberly rated it really liked it

At first it was hard going back and forth between the two stories but by the end I couldn't put it down. I would have loved a book on just her grandmother and her life. ...more

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Apr 23, 2025 Debbie rated it liked it

Shelves: christian, fiction

"The Scarlet Thread" is Christian fiction with a 'modern' (1990s) storyline and one with Sierra's ancestor in the mid-1800s. The stories cover many years. I liked the story, but it wasn't a pleasant story as there's lots of arguing, pouting, and pain before things started to be redeemed at the very end. The characters were complex and acted in realistic ways, yet some events in the book pushed what feels realistic.

Sierra had the happy, secure life she wanted when her husband announced he already "The Scarlet Thread" is Christian fiction with a 'modern' (1990s) storyline and one with Sierra's ancestor in the mid-1800s. The stories cover many years. I liked the story, but it wasn't a pleasant story as there's lots of arguing, pouting, and pain before things started to be redeemed at the very end. The characters were complex and acted in realistic ways, yet some events in the book pushed what feels realistic.

Sierra had the happy, secure life she wanted when her husband announced he already quit his job and accepted another one. They're moving away. No, he didn't talk this over with her. It's his chance at his dream job, and he's taking it. From that moment forward, he demanded that she do what he wanted (buy an expensive house they can't really afford, etc.) without listening to her concerns. Granted, at least at the beginning, she complained so much that he just shut her out, but he left her long before he literally moved in with another woman. God sends her friends that help her find healing and forgiveness.

Mary Kathryn's story doesn't hit the Oregon Trail until into the last half of the book. Her family had a lot of disfunction. Her brother was married by the minister to a girl known to get physical with the boys, only she died in childbirth after revealing that the baby wasn't her husbands but her father-in-laws. Everyone abandoned the baby but Mary Kathryn. Even though people knew the other girl was pregnant and Mary Kathryn showed no signs of pregnancy or childbirth AND needed to feed the baby using goats milk, everyone assumed Mary Kathryn sinned and the baby was hers. I had a hard time accepting that people who should have known better ALL believed the baby was hers and largely shunned her for it. Anyway, she gets married to a man she loves but who tells her he wants to go to Oregon so the family's going whether she wants to or not. She's furious and takes half the Trail before she forgives him.

There was no bad language or sex scenes. I'd recommend the story to those with a tolerance for a lot of family strife. ...more

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