We Hope for Better Things

The Past Is Never As Past As We'd Like To Think

Published January 1st 2019 by 

Fleming H. Revell Company

Available for Purchase:

AMAZON  BARNES & NOBLE  CHRISTIANBOOK

BOOKS-A-MILLION  BAKER BOOK HOUSE

Meet the Author:

ERIN BARTELS is a copywriter and freelance editor by day, a novelist by night, and a painter, seamstress, poet, and photographer in between. Her debut novel, WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS, is scheduled to be released in January 2019 from Revell Books, followed in September 2019 with THE WORDS BETWEEN US, which was a finalist for the 2015 Rising Star Award from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Her short story “This Elegant Ruin” was a finalist in The Saturday Evening Post 2014 Great American Fiction Contest. Her poems have been published by The Lyric and The East Lansing Poetry Attack. A member of the Capital City Writers Association and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, she is former features editor of WFWA’s Write On! magazine.

Erin lives in the beautiful, water-defined state of Michigan where she is never more than a ninety minute drive from one of the Great Lakes or six miles from an inland lake, river, or stream. She grew up in the Bay City area waiting for freighters and sailboats at drawbridges and watching the best 4th of July fireworks displays in the nation. She spent her college and young married years in Grand Rapids feeling decidedly not-Dutch. She currently lives with her husband and son in Lansing, nestled somewhere between angry protesters on the Capitol lawn and couch-burning frat boys at Michigan State University. And yet, she claims it is really quite peaceful.

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My Thoughts:

This is a debut novel from the author and I think she's written a book that will touch a lot of hearts.  

Let's start with this book was not what I expected as far as subject matter goes.  It takes on the tough topic of racism in America.  

This story is mult-generational about three women who dealt with racism through the Civil War, Riots of the 1960's, and present day.  

As the story opens we meet journalist Elizabeth Balsam who has been asked to meet an elderly man who wants to give her some older photos.  The gentleman has photos that he wants to return to Nora Balsam.  He knows Elizabeth is related to Nora just by looking at her, but Elizabeth isn't so sure.  After being fired from her job Elizabeth finds herself at loose ends and begins the think about the mystery of the old photos intended for Nora.  She suddenly finds herself on a rural road leading to her great-aunt's farmhouse and meeting Nora.  

As Elizabeth starts to sort out the mystery surrounding Nora, she also finds a rich family history that she never expected. The third woman is Mary Balsam who lived in the farmhouse during the civil war while her husband, an abolitionist, fought.  She had to come to grips with her true feelings about a different race.  She's faced with how her helping escaped slaves is seen by society and how those of a different race are viewed by society.  Elizabeth sees a history that's full of love, hate, loss, and many struggles the women of her family had faced.  There were parts of the story that I struggled with as it's very telling of how far we've come as a society, but also reminded me of how much further we have to go.  

This is a well written book.  The subject matter was well researched by the author.  I would recommend this book to anyone. 

*I received this book from the publisher as part of their book bloggers program.  I was not expected to write a review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.