by Lynn Austin
1999 / 432 pages
Rating: GOOD/Great/Give

This book was recommended to me by a good friend. I was a little skeptical (Christian women’s fiction can be formulaic and sappy!) but while I was still reading it I noticed a young lady at church stuff a copy into a friend’s mailbox. She also said it was fantastic. Add my vote, and that makes three recommendations for you so far!

Eve’s Daughters is a multi-generational story, but mainly about Emma, a daughter born to immigrant parents. She is a rather free spirit who has trouble living by her parents’ rules. Their view of life is too “old country” – Emma considers herself an American, not a German-American.

But eventually Emma comes to see that the “rules” of the previous generation have value and are of great importance. She realizes that some of the choices she made in her life have caused great harm to her daughter and even her granddaughter. She must tell them the truth that she has kept carefully hidden for fifty years, and by doing so also free herself of the animosity that she feels toward God. Emma and her daughter and granddaughter learn that love – true love – forgives, just as we are forgiven by God through grace alone.