When I first started reading the book I thought, “Great a Christian book trying to weave in the supernatural.”   I was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn’t that at all!  This book was hard to put down.

Marielle Bishop marries a widower with 2 children.   She begins her marriage with the unusual arrangement of moving into his deceased wife’s, Sara, family home.   Sara’s 90 year old grandmother Adelaide, who raised her from a baby, still lives there.  This is done not to upset the children as it is the only home they have ever known.

Marielle is faced with many adjustments; being a newlywed, becoming the stepmother of two children, moving into a home that is not their own, and living with Adelaide.  If all that isn’t enough some believe that beautiful Holly Oak mansion is haunted by Adelaide’s great-grandmother.

The sprawling mansion is rich in Civil War history.  The story has it that Susannah Page haunts the house grieving her part in being a Civil War spy, or so they say.  Many believe her sin has brought heartaches and problems to each generation of women after her and will continue to.

Marielle doesn’t believe in such but she finds herself being drawn in by mysterious happenings in the mansion.  Adelaide’s elderly friends only add to her discomfort.  She seeks to find the answers for herself and the truth about Susannah’s past.  Special historical letters show up and they are just what Marielle needs to solve the mystery.  I so enjoyed this part of the book because I felt like I was sitting there peeking into the past with Marielle.

I love the way the author blended the present with the past.  This book has a powerful message about how we can create our own problems by focusing on the wrong thing.  It is easy to waste a life time by not facing the truth.  A VERY GOOD read! 

 I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.