Amid the 1900 Galveston hurricane, one woman’s perseverance is tested in this captivating story from the author whose work has been called “intelligent and arresting” ( Foreword Reviews ) and “historical fiction as it is meant to be told” ( Library Journal ).
I walked until I could go no farther, until open water was all I could see.
Galveston, Texas. September 1900. Only months ago, Kathleen McDaniel returned from finishing school in Switzerland to her family home in New York’s Hudson Valley with a future of promise and privilege set before her. But one horrific event shattered her picturesque life. Now she has fled as far as the train line and a pocketful of money would take her, finding refuge at the St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum on Galveston Island, where she helps the nuns care for their young charges and prays her past will not find her. Despite her tenuous standing at the orphanage—and the grief and betrayal that drove her from home—Kathleen slowly begins to make friends. There is Emily, the novice nun she rooms with; Maggie, the tempestuous young girl who only bonds with Kathleen; and Matthew, a kind, handsome man recently employed by Isaac Cline at Galveston’s office of the US Weather Bureau.
Then in one fateful day, Kathleen’s fragile new life begins to crack as it becomes clear that she can’t run far enough to escape the reach of her former life. Meanwhile, as troubling news about a storm crossing the Gulf from Cuba swirls in the Weather Bureau offices, Matthew holds fast to Cline’s belief that no hurricane can touch Galveston. But as darkness falls on the island, Kathleen must gather her courage and reach for a strength beyond her own if she—and those she loves—are to survive.
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Language - 0/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 0/5
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Summary
"When we suffer, it reminds us that this life is short, and this world is not our home. . . . . Sometimes God has to tear down all the distractions . . . . To see that after everything else is gone, He's still there."
Traveling as far away from home as possible, Kathleen McDaniel locks her privileged life in New York inside a proverbial closet and courageously tries to pretend the horrific chain of events that sent her running all the way until the end of the line had not happenned. Landing in Galveston, Texas she collapses inside the front hall of St Mary's Orphan Asylum where she assumes a new identity and prays that her nightmare will never find her.
Her plan works until her timeline is shortened and an historic storm brews off the coast of Texas, eventually taking out every last light over Galveston. Will Kathleen survive yet another tragedy as she struggles to keep one promise while making another that she may not live long enough to keep?
An arresting blend of historical events that wrap tentacles around a young woman's freedom to make the choices of her heart, while discovering that who she really is had graciously been determined by a God who lovingly knit her innermost being together with everlasting stitches.