Michael Dunnagan was never supposed to sail on the Titanic, nor would he have survived if not for the courage of Owen Allen. Determined to carry out his promise to care for Owen’s relatives in America and his younger sister, Annie, in England, Michael works hard to strengthen the family’s New Jersey garden and landscaping business.
Annie Allen doesn’t care what Michael promised Owen. She only knows that her brother is gone—like their mother and father—and the grief is enough to swallow her whole. As Annie struggles to navigate life without Owen, Michael reaches out to her through letters. In time, as Annie begins to lay aside her anger that Michael lived when Owen did not, a tentative friendship takes root and blossoms into something neither expected. Just as Michael saves enough money to bring Annie to America, WWI erupts in Europe. When Annie’s letters mysteriously stop, Michael risks everything to fulfill his promise—and find the woman he’s grown to love—before she’s lost forever.
Cathy Gohlke
Cathy Gohlke is the two-time Christy Award–winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Promise Me This, William Henry Is a Fine Name, and I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires, which also won the American Christian Fiction Writers' Book of the Year Award and was listed by Library Journal as one of the Best Books of 2008.
Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children's and education ministries. When not traipsing the hills and dales of historic sites, she, her husband, and their dog, Reilly, make their home on the banks of the Laurel Run in Elkton, Maryland. Visit her website at www.cathygohlke.com.
My Review:
I started reading this book thinking it was about the Titanic...it is so very much more! We all know the out come of the ships fate, and when you get engrossed in this story, you hope beyond hope that the all the character's we have now met on the ship will survive. Of course, this is a fictional story based on fact.
Owen Allen is such a great God loving Character, with such a big heart. His sister Annie has not had an easy life, her parents are deceased, and she has been living with her Aunt Eleanor, the Devil Incarnate!
Owen wants to send for her as soon as he has enough money, and have her come to America.
Michael Dunnagan, has also had a very rough life, and becomes a stowaway on the Titanic, and is helped and loved by Owen. Owen embraces him and has him sew his plants and seeds into his coat, to plant his Allen's Run Garden in New Jersey...in America!
Once we get to New Jersey we meet Owen's Aunt and Uncle that take Michael under their wings and give him the first home he can ever remember. There is so much emotion packed into this book, there are heart wrenching times, and so much love...and throughout it all I see God's hand!
This book then takes us on a journey of World War I, and the flu epidemic. So very much is packed into this unforgettable book...I LOVED it!!
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Thank you, Maureen, for your excellent review of "Promise Me This." Writing it was as much of an emotional journey as reading it. I came to love the characters, and my heart broke and healed along with their hearts. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story, and especially glad you saw God's love there!
ReplyDeleteHi Cathy & Maureen! This sounds like such a good book. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy! :-)
ReplyDeleteI tried to follow your blog with the Networked Blogs link but there was an error. I was able to enter with Rafflecopter anyway. This book sounds very good so I'd like to be entered for the drawing. Thanks for having it.
ReplyDeletepmk56[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
I would love to win this Book, it sounds awesome, Please enter my name in your Contest.
ReplyDeleteThank you and God Bless
ingrids62448(at)yahoo(dot)com
This book is on my wish list to read. I would love to win it!
ReplyDelete-Melissa Finnegan
mafinnegan@yahoo.com
I am fascinated by stories with a Titanic component, please add me to the drawing!
ReplyDeleteWorthy2bpraised at gmail dot com
I would love to read this book. It sounds like a very interesting story.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Jo
ladijo40(at)aol(dot)com
"Promise Me This" is one of the many fictional novels out that have a Titanic connection. It stands out in that it carries the reader from days before the Titanic sailing to days after World War I. Gohlke's novel is an epic saga that touches on Christian themes of sacrifice and forgiveness.
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