“Maggie’s Journey” by Lena Nelson Dooley~~My Personal Review

Seeking to Find the Real Maggie Lenora Caine

On her eighteenth birthday, Margaret Lenora Caine finds a chest hidden in the attic containing proof that she was adopted. The daughter of wealthy merchants in Seattle, she feels betrayed both by her real parents and by the ones who raised her.

Maggie longs for a place where she belongs. But her mother’s constant criticism and reminders that she doesn’t fit the mold of a young woman of their social standing have already created tension in their home. With the discovery of the family secret, all sense of her identity is lost.

When Maggie asks to visit her grandmother in Arkansas, her father agrees on the condition that she take her Aunt Georgia as a chaperone and his young partner, Charles Stanton, as protection on the journey. Will she discover who she really is and, more importantly, what truly matters most in life?

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Bio: 

Lena Nelson Dooley is an award-winning author with more than 650,000 books in print. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers—where she received the Mentor of the Year award in 2006—DFW Ready Writers, and Christian Authors Network. She lives in Hurst, Texas, with her husband of over 45 years.

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Endorsement:

Maggie’s Journey grabs you on page one with characters and events that reflect real-life joys and heartaches that change the characters forever. Make room on your “keepers” shelf! —Loree Lough, best-selling author of 80 award-winning books, including From Ashes to Honor.

My Review:

Oregon Trail, September, 1867.  Three little girls were born to Angus and Lenora McKenna, but Lenora died after giving birth.  Angus, torn and bereaved, knew he couldn’t care for three girls and decided to give two of his daughters away. Margaret (Maggie) Lenora was given to Florence and Joshua Caine.  This is her story, Maggie’s Journey.

Before her 18th birthday party, we find Maggie searching the attic for the dresses she’d heard about, the ones her grandmother made for her mother while on the Oregon Trail, as she was a talented dress designer.  While rustling through a cluster of trunks and old crates, she finds a small white chest with a carved floral design.  That fateful day, she finds her adoption papers hidden below some baby clothes.  Up to that day, she’d had no inkling that she was adopted.   She believes her parents lied to her all these years.

Though Maggie hasn’t told her parents of her new knowledge, she still wants to meet her grandmother, as they both have similar dress-designing talents. She and Aunt Georgia are chaperoned by Charles Stanton on their train trip to Arkansas.

Lena creates an enveloping story of the rigors of a train ride for Maggie and Georgia, accompanied by Charles, from Washington State to Arkansas in the autumn of that year.  Though I’ve never ridden a train, her scenarios and episodes were so real that you could imagine what they saw, heard and experienced.  It’s a riveting story.  The romance aspect is both amusing and touching.  But you will have to read the book to see why.

All the characters are developed in-depth, pulling you into the personal issues involved.  They are friends you want to read more about.

Many of us have known children who have been adopted. Some are content with their adoptive parents, others are not.  Lena exposes the distraught feelings and sense of loss in the life of Maggie when she finds she’s adopted, particularly because Maggie has never been able to please her mother.  This trip not only exposes Maggie’s feelings, but also the hidden feelings in Florence’s life that even her husband isn’t aware of.  It gets down-right personal.  Will Florence and Maggie be able to reconcile and become true mother and daughter?  Will their faith in God be strong enough to work through the issues?

Lena’s book is a true historical romance; heavy on the history and sweet on the romance, with a spiritual lesson for all of us.  A super-delightful book based on the 1860′s.

Special thanks to Kim Jones | Publicity Coordinator, Charisma House | Charisma Media, for sending me a review copy for this review.  No monetary compensation was exchanged.