Werewolves, Zombies, and now Ghosts!

Werewolves, Zombies, and now Ghosts!

A Sound Among The Trees by Susan Meissner

From the sound of the last few books I have read, you would think I have started reading horror novels.  But there are no creatures walking through walls and leaving a trail of slime behind in this story.  The “ghosts” here have to do with memories of those who have gone before.

I immediately connected with the story because the meeting and marriage of Carson and Marielle is almost identical to my husband’s and mine.  Only I didn’t move into a grand antebellum ancestral mansion after moving clear across the country.  I moved into what my husband and his family affectionately calls “the dungeon”.  But at least my home wasn’t filled with 150 years’ worth of bad memories.

This story is very good.  It is a little slow and melancholy at first, but has a real sense of the two main characters’, Marielle and Adelaide, struggle to make a home together in under very awkward circumstances. 

Adelaide tries to deal with the tragedies that have befallen her family through the years, while dealing with rumors of the ghost of her great-grandmother--an alleged to be a spy in the Civil War.  Marielle marries Adelaide’s grandson-in-law and has to deal with the memories of Adelaide’s dead granddaughter.

There is not much in the way of overt faith.  One important character seems to have had transformational encounter with Christ, but it is alluded to more than stated outright.  A small spiritual battle takes place between her and another person who “senses” the ghost in the house.

This is a great story, well worth the time.  I received this as a reward for doing  a survey with WaterbrookMultnomah and am very glad I did.  Sometimes it pays to do those little surveys for companies!