Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer is a story about learning to love and forgive even in the knowledge of betrayal. Warren and Neva Shilling and their 14 year old twins; Bud and Belle, live in Kansas in 1936. In the midst of The Great Depression, Warren and Neva work together to keep their mercantile in business. Warren sells his merchandise from a wagon to neighboring communities every other month while Neva stays home keeping the shop and their home above the mercantile running smoothly.
Neva and the twins are impatiently waiting for Warren to return from his month long selling trip when they hear a wagon pull up outside. Hoping to find Warren home, they discover instead an officer named Jesse Caudel bringing news of the death of Warren Shilling and his wife, Violet. He wasn't alone. He brought with him Warren and Violet Shilling's three recently orphaned children who were to be put into the care of their Aunt Neva.
Feeling humiliated and betrayed by Warren, will Neva be able to care for his children from another woman or will she send them to an orphanage? How will Neva's children respond to these three new additions and to the truth about their father? Will Neva be able to keep the mercantile open? Neva is forced to ask these and many other questions she had never planned. With many prayers and help from Jesse Caudel and her neighbor; Arthur Randal, she begins to find the answers.
I enjoyed Room for Hope and wondered how Neva would handle the problems she was forced to face. Neva's character and how she questioned and reacted to different situations seemed true to life. She felt anger, sadness, disbelief and gradually acceptance, hope and love. She faced all of her struggles with prayer and help from friends.
The one character that seemed to annoy me was Bud. I understand that he was a young teenager dealing with the loss of his beloved father and the sudden appearance of three small children but his actions really annoyed me and seemed to be something a younger child would do. I managed to read through his sections to get to other characters that I enjoyed reading more.
Overall, it was a great book about faith and learning to forgive those you love. This was the first book I've read by Kim Vogel Sawyer. She has won numerous awards for her faith based books. I look forward to browsing more of her books and hope you take the time to read a few of them.
FTC disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own.
