A Book Review and Contest: Heart Of The Country

Screenwriter John Ward's concept for Heart of the Country is a creative look at the Prodigal story...and the two main characters, Faith and Luke  are runners and prodigals, returning to the family home in one way or another. 


Written by Rene Gutteridge, the story is told in first person and covers every character in this point of view. Rene chose to tell the story from the changing voices of the main characters...mostly the two sisters and the husband. At first, I was a bit confused, but soon adapted to the technique because the author was so adept at getting inside of the characters and wrote really distinctive voices for each one of them. In addition, the story  slowly unwinds through the course of the book through the eyes of the dead mother.


 The story revolves around Faith who ran away to New York following the death of her mother, the resentful older sister who stayed behind, and Faith's ailing father who all have unresolved feelings  of grief. Then there's Luke who essentially runs from his wealthy family. 

 In the beginning, Faith and Luke appear to live a fairy tale existence in NYC. Faith is a beautiful singer turned socialite while Luke is an up-and-coming successful wall Street businessman in his father's firm.   Luke is the younger brother and feels unfulfilled in his position in the family firm. After taking his inheritance from his father’s stable, lucrative business to invest in a  hedge fund with the Michov Brothers, he’s  feels he's on the fast track as a rising young executive, and Faith is settling into her role as his wife.

But then the trouble begins. When rumors of the Michovs' involvement in a Ponzi scheme reach Faith, she questions Luke, and he assures her that there is nothing to worry about. Then Luke is arrested and Faith can’t understand why he lied to her. So instead of staying and supporting her husband,  she runs again, this time back home to the  N.C. farm and family she left years ago following her mother's death.She soon realizes that she has never really grieved over the loss of her mother and she has been running ever since. Then her father is diagnosed with a brain tumor and she must reach out for help from the husband she abandoned.

Meanwhile, Luke is forced to go to his own family for help as he desperately tries to keep himself out of jail from unintentional mistakes. Two prodigals return to families they abandoned, and seek forgiveness and must then seek forgiveness from each other with a little god-given guidance.

This was a very fast read and is well worth the time I spent between its pages. It is well crafted and the prose is beautiful.

~~~

I received this book  in exchange for an unbiased review from Tyndale Publishers.


Now for the Contest:
The grand prize winner and a guest will be flown to the set of the Heart of the Country film, stay in the cast hotel, and get the full movie-set experience with all the other cast members. They will have a star trailer, go through wardrobe, makeup, and hair, and have a speaking part in a scene of the movie Heart of the Country! The contest ends March 15, 2012. The movie is being filmed in Wilmington, N.C.


 If you buy the ebook for $2.99, by March 15th you will get a code that will allow you to enter the ‘Star for a Day’ contest . For more information go to:  http://heartofthecountrymovie.com/star-for-a-day-contest/.


Once you've gotten your code you can purchase from ibookstore,christian book.com, Barnes and Noble or Amazon
Then enter your contest code for a chance to win the grand prize!