"Travelers Rest" by Ann Tatlock: Book Review

ISBN:  978-0-7642-0810-2
$14.99

This is a story of lives intertwined in unusual ways and the interactions and emotional turmoil of shattered lives, gut wrenching decisions, social injustices, tragedies of war, and journey to faith.  It is a story of coping with severe handicaps and facing the emotion and physical toil those handicaps place on the individual as well as those in their emotional circle.

Seth and Jane are the young couple about which this story is basically written.  But the journey they are taking is not the one which they had planned so excitedly prior to Seth's deployment to the battlefield.  He has returned home physically and emotionally  a broken man.  Jane is determined to marry him as planned and care for him.  Seth, realistically, says, "No." 

Other players on the stage of this journey-play, are Truman, a retired doctor who grew up in the old Jim Crow South as a black man; and John Paul, who is a young attorney who plays the piano beautifully and who faces his difficulties with grace.  (Watch out for the piano player!)

There are really three stories being played out here; and as I said, they are tightly intertwined.  But understanding the title requires  getting into the story a bit - Travelers Rest.  You see, they are all journeying through life and it is a true journey.  When you travel you must rest.  But rest is hard to come by sometimes.

In the book Travelers Rest is actually a town.  The characters have connections to the town and to each other that are revealed as the story progresses.  Let's just say, that rest for the travelers is ultimately found in Travelers Rest

This is a first read for me of Ann Tatlock's works.  I found it enjoyable in writing style and plot.  I did find it somewhat emotionally draining because of the heavy burdens the characters faced and no hope of recourse.  But I did find rest in the composure and grace of Truman and John Paul.

I encourage you to get a copy and read Travelers Rest.

About the author:  Ann Tatlock is the author of the Christy Award-winning novel All the Way Home. She has also won the Midwest Independent Publishers Association "Book of the Year" in fiction for both All the Way Home and I'll Watch the Moon. Her novel Things We Once Held Dear received a starred review from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly calls her "one of Christian fiction's better wordsmiths, and her lovely prose reminds readers why it is a joy to savor her stories." Ann lives with her husband and daughter in Asheville, North Carolina. Visit www.anntatlock.com

DISCLOSURE:  I was provided a complimentary copy of Travelers Rest by Bethany House a Division of Baker Publishing Group on behalf of the author, Ann Tatlock,  in order to render my honest review.  I was under no obligation to give a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.