Return to Baragula
By Mary Hawkins
(Ark House Press)
Reviewed by Elizabeth Gardner
Some stories seem to take a long time to read, but this was a truly gripping novel that I finished in a couple of days.
Emily Parker, a devoted Christian who has spent many hours witnessing the Christian faith to friends at high school, at an end of year holiday with fellow students finds her life changed forever after she lets herself down.
Emily finds herself pregnant with twins and the consequences of this one action as a teenager, on not only herself but her family and those around her, are enormous. These slowly emerge throughout the book, Emily herself learning the impact she has had on so many lives.
Six years after this holiday, Emily returns reluctantly to Baragula and discovers the father of her twins, Matthew Davidson, is now the community’s doctor. Not only that, but Matthew is a committed Christian and totally unaware he is a father. And so a voyage of revelations emerges.
Also while Emily’s faith is now severely weakened by all that has happened, Matthew’s life has completely turned around since he committed his life to Christ.
Matthew and Emily are thrown together as disasters hit Baragula and they work together to rectify them. Emily feels as though she is being watched and the safety of her wider family is threatened. Although Matthew’s faith is now strong, the opposite can be said for Emily’s. Can this past relationship be rekindled?
Many threads make up this captivating story and will keep the reader glued to the end as each thread becomes unravelled.
