A Promise to Break

WOW! I almost gave up on this novel but took a break and resettled back into it someplace where the outside distractions of life were not present and I am so glad I did! A Promise to Break is the debut novel of Kathryn Spurgeon that chronicles the life of Sibyl Trimble, a young girl who believes she holds the promise of a future generation, at least that is what her father reminds her. She is as actively involved in politics and the outcomes of the country as it begins to enter 1930's with the threats to the economy from job losses to bank closures. Farmers are losing their farms as banks and the government foreclose on them instead of finding a way to help them stay afloat in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

It is advantageous for the Trimble family because they are not impacted like others in the city as they are part of the affluent, and while Sibyl struggles to figure out what her purpose in trying to help will play, her father and mother believe a suitable match to someone who can provide a financial future is the way to go. But James is not the answer to love or what Sibyl defines love truly is. She has a brief moment with a blue-eyed hobo in a train station that gives her a glimpse into what love at first sight might look like, but she knows that is the one promise she can't break to her father. To settle for love instead of wealth and security.

But God has much different plans and He creates a way for Sibyl to gain the insight into what her father's life truly looks like when the facade is removed and she can see him for what he truly is. A man consumed by greed and power, and it begins to divide even her own family beginning with her grandparents. Her younger sister winds up pregnant but is overlooked in her indiscretion as her family believed that would be her lot in life, but when it happens to Sibyl things are cast into a much different light and the future her father had planned begins to crumble one stone at a time.

I received A Promise to Break by Kathryn Spurgeon compliments of Memory House Publishing for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my unbiased personal opinion of the novel. This is such a two-sided look at what life must have been like for people living through the Great Depression as some benefited from it, while others lost everything they had including their lives when hope ran out. For Sibyl is shows her that God has always had a plan and purpose for her life even though it was not the one she thought it would be, and it always turns out to be better than what we hope. For me, this one rates a 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and this story was based on the life of Kathryn's grandparents which we see glimpses of in the Author's Note section at the conclusion of this novel.

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A Promise to Break by Kathryn Spurgeon

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