Having returned to Chicago, young socialite Anna Nicholson can't seem to focus on her upcoming marriage. The new information she's learned about her birth mother continues to pull at her, and she hires Pinkerton detectives to help her find the truth. But as she meets people who once knew her mother and hears stories about the past, Anna soon discovers that some secrets are better left hidden. At the same time, unflattering stories about Anna are leaked by someone who would love to see her disgraced and her engagement broken ...
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Having returned to Chicago, young socialite Anna Nicholson can't seem to focus on her upcoming marriage. The new information she's learned about her birth mother continues to pull at her, and she hires Pinkerton detectives to help her find the truth. But as she meets people who once knew her mother and hears stories about the past, Anna soon discovers that some secrets are better left hidden. At the same time, unflattering stories about Anna are leaked by someone who would love to see her disgraced and her engagement broken. And as Anna tries to share her faith with her society friends, she understands that her choice to seek God's purpose for her life isn't as simple as she had hoped. When things are at their darkest, Anna knows she can turn to her grandmother, Geesje de Jonge, back in Holland, Michigan. Geesje's been helping new Dutch immigrants, including a teen with a haunted past, adjust to America. She only hopes that her wisdom can help all these young people through the turmoil they face.
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Reading a Lynn Austin book is always a treat. In Legacy of Mercy Austin seamlessly stitches together two strong story lines, honoring each without detracting from the other. In the late 1800s women of society were not expected to marry for love, but for joining families to the mutual benefit of both. So, Anneke (Anna) Nicholson had resigned herself to the necessity of her marriage to William Wilkinson. The marriage would help her adopted parents both financially and socially. Still her mind, and her heart, could not help but wonder what life as a minster's wife would be like if her and Derk Vander Veen's circumstances were different. While Anna loved her parents and appreciated all that they had provided for her, the simpler, God-focused life of her recently discovered grandmother, Geesje de Jonge, spoke to her.
Cornelia Den Herder had known great loss in her seventeen years. She had lost her immediate family to a fire, everyone who loved her. Forced to live with a cold and distant grandfather and his extensive list of rules,Cornelia was bereft. Now she and her grandfather had fled their native Netherlands for an uncertain future in America. While searching for jobs and a place to settle, Cornelia had come to live with Anneke's grandmother, while her grandfather resided next door with Derk Vander Veen and his father. Geesje longed to help the deeply saddened young woman to repair her relationship with her grandfather, but Cornelia held deep secrets and her grandfather resented Geesje's meddling.
The need to accept and extend forgiveness and mercy is the theme that runs throughout this story. As always Austin has developed characters whose lives will matter to her readers as they, while set in another time and place, reflect elements of the readers own needs and desires. The need to be truly accepted for oneself is another strong theme in this story, one that resonates in today's society. I thank NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for providing me with a copy of Legacy of Mercy in exchange for my honest opinion. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review and received no monetary compensation.
