At Every Turn by Anne Mateer

Hello,
One day I am going to post something amazing that will grow my readers to millions. Instead all I ever seem to do is do book reviews.

So here I go....

At Every Turn by Anne Mateer is a novel. I am a fast reader, it took me only a few hours to read. I think it would be a good book for a teenager.

Alyce lives in 1916. She is a member of a wealthy family in the country. Her family is pretty dysfunctional we would say today and multigenerational. Her grandmother is an invalid. She has an amazing relationship with Alyce and a strong faith. Alyce shares this strong faith. Her father loves the countryside, his business, and cars. He has recently begun his own race team. So the story has some moments on the early tracks in Indy and Chicago. The early days of the Brickyard. Alyce shares this passion for cars and likes her father's money. The mother wants to be in the city and she wants to marry Alyce off to some successful man in the city. Alyce wants to get married is about the only thing that she has in common with her mother.

The novel begins with Alyce driving her fancy new car to the small town church. She doesn't see that this separates her form the rest of the congregation. Some missionaries are at the church and share their story about orphans in Africa. Alyce pledges three thousand dollars (she thinks her father will pay) to the African orphans and commits the church to matching it. Keep in mind, it is 1916--this would be like 61,000 today or more than many make in a year.

Her father refuses to give anything to something about God. Alyce begins to beg the townspeople for money. In doing so she discovers lots of needs in her own backyard. She gives it away as quickly as she gets it.  Finally she comes up with the idea to race her father's new car. She somehow talks her father's mechanic into letting her do this. Keep in mind, very few women race cars today, 100 years ago it would have been shocking.So thus begins a web of deceit and lies all in order to give money away to missions.

The drama is between whether Alyce will end up with the mechanic Webster (her mother would hate that), her father's business associate Lawrence who attends church with her, or someone else who her parents would find acceptable. As the novel progresses, every one has their secrets which they scheme to keep from revealing.

The whole thing is rather silly. I think their are some good messages. Know your gifts and rest in them. Don't get so carried away with a great need--that you miss needs around you. Don't be impulsive even for good things. God gives you a sound mind for a purpose.

I received no compensation for this review, other than a copy of the book from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing.