Review of The Refuge

Title:  The Refuge

Author: Ann H Gabhart

Chapters: 35 plus epilogue

Pages: 400

Genre: Christian Historical fiction

Rating: 4 stars

The Refuge by Ann H. Gabhart is not my first by her, but it is my first Shaker book that I’ve read.  Darcie and her husband end up at Harmony Hill the fictional Shaker village in Kentucky to ride out a Cholera epidemic when he’s killed in an accident. Leaving Darcie widowed and pregnant something that the Shaker’s don’t really know how to deal with. When she meets widower Flynn Keller and his daughter.

I’m not going to lie I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I don’t read Amish fiction and for some reason that’s how I was viewing fiction books about the Shakers the same way. I was surprised but in a good way.  Ann gave her characters in this book the same depth that she gives all her characters. 

Even though Harmony Hill is a fictional Shaker village it was easy to picture how it was set up because I’ve been to both Shaker villages in Kentucky. And I have a feeling that Ann based Harmony Hill on the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in central Kentucky.   Ann brings life to her historical novels as well as the Kentucky setting, all of her books I’ve read have been set in Kentucky and I love that. 

My favorite character in the book wasn’t Darcie or Flynn instead it was Flynn’s young daughter whose headstrong nature reminded me a bit of myself at that age. To me she makes the whole book.

The Refuge is a book about leaving to trust God and his timing not our timing.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christian historical fiction. As well as readers who like to read fictional stories based on real historic places.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher as part of a blog tour. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.