From the best-selling author of Crossing Oceans comes a heartrending yet uplifting story of friendship and redemption. On the cusp of adulthood, eighteen-year-old Penny Carson is swept off her feet by a handsome farmhand with a confident swagger. Though Trent Taylor seems like Prince Charming and offers an escape from her one-stop-sign town, Penny’s happily-ever-after lasts no longer than their breakneck courtship. Before the ink even dries on their marriage certificate, he hits her for the first time. It isn’t the last, yet the bruises that can’t be seen are the most painful of all.
When Trent is injured in a welding accident and his paycheck stops, he has no choice but to finally allow Penny to take a job cleaning houses. Here she meets two women from very different worlds who will teach her to live and laugh again, and lend her their backbones just long enough for her to find her own.
Gina Holmes is the founder of Inspire a Fire and Novel Rocket. Her debut, Crossing Oceans, was a Christy and Gold Medallion finalist and winner of the Carol Award, INSPY, and RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice, as well as being a CBA, ECPA, Amazon and PW Religion bestseller. Her sophomore novel, Dry as Rain, released in 2011. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her family in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.
My Impressions:
Wings of Glass is the first book I have read by Gina Holmes, but certainly will not be the last. A moving account of a woman’s struggle with self in the face of spousal abuse, this novel will touch your heart and soul.
At the beginning of the novel, Penny is a young woman struggling with depression. He husband has isolated her from family and friends; her only interactions are with him and his drunken friends. Fearful of his reprisals, she resists any attempts of friendship by neighbors and a woman she met once at church. But an accident that leaves her husband dependent on her, forces Penny into the world, a world that promises freedom from abuse and the support of loving friends and a gracious God.
Wings of Glass is told in the first person making it a powerfully personal story. Written as a means of explanation of life and love for her infant son, Penny details the life she lived with her parents and husband. Determined for her son not to repeat the mistakes she and her husband made, Penny presents a moving narrative that is surprisingly objective in the face of her trials. Holmes novel has well-defined characters — flawed, funny and earnest. I especially liked Fatimah, the Sudanese immigrant who has found freedom from abuse in the United States. Fatimah is passionate and faithful, and brings humor into a very serious subject. Wings of Glass is beautifully written, allowing the reader to become a part of the story. It flows so naturally that I was surprised at how fast I read it — just one day! The subject matter is heavy and the reader’s own viewpoint towards God’s view of marriage may be challenged. Penny’s pastor presents an attitude that I fear is widespread throughout the church.
Wings of Glass is a book that I will recommend to everyone. A great story told in an amazing way.
Very Highly Recommended.
Great for Book Clubs.
(I received Wings of Glass from Tyndale in return for a review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)
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