This story begins in Memphis, December 18, 1854. It is about
what happens when Jeanne Bettencourt and Clint Hardin each inherit half the riverboat
Helena Rose.
Jeanne, a widow with a six-year old daughter, Marvel, was
working as a chambermaid in a hotel, and just barely making enough money to get
by. Her parents died in a tornado that destroyed their steamboat before Marvel
was born and her soldier husband was assumed dead.
Clint was a machinist, singer, and boxer. He had seen Jeanne
and Marvel when he sang for a town Christmas festival, but was surprised to see
her again in the lawyer's office when they learned a distant relative of theirs
had died and left them the cargo steamboat.
With Jeanne's experience as a pilot on her parent's boat and
Clint's experience as a machinist, they go into business together delivering mail
and carrying cargo. The business becomes successful quickly, partly because of
help from a gentleman friend of Jeanne's, George Masters, a frequent guest at
the hotel. The rest of the crew consists of Ezra who had worked on the boat for
the previous owner, Vince, a friend of Clint's and Roberty, an orphan boy
Jeanne rescued from a beating. A stipulation of the will was that they had to
also take the dog, Leo, which they all loved.
There were many complications in the story which made reading
even more interesting. At one point, when I thought the story had reached a
satisfactory ending, another major problem popped up. It was difficult to put
the book down because I wanted to find out what would happen next.
This is a Christian novel and there are references to God,
the Bible, and Christian life. I appreciated the way this was handled and I
liked that one of the main characters was further along in spiritual
development than the other. This allowed the reader to observe the growth and,
yes, there were a few tears along the way.
Overall, an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
I received
a complimentary copy of this book for review from B&H Publishing Group. I
was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are
my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's
16 CFR, Part 255. The book was then donated to my church library.
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