When Love Calls by Lorna Seilstad

In this Christian fiction novel, When Love Calls by Lorna Seilstad, there is mystery, romance and plenty about the struggle to do what pleases God and not what doesn't please Him. Hannah often prays about situations, and I could really see how God can intervene in horrible situations that can happen in real life. The novel takes place in 1908 in Iowa. Both parents of three sisters have died. Hannah, the oldest, Charlotte and Tessa. Hannah takes her responsibilities seriously. She goes back to school to become a telephone operator. After getting the job, she finds out how hard it is to live without parents and work on a job where every move she makes is graded.

Hannah is spunky. That's why I liked her. She doesn't give up easily. She helps a friend get through legal problems due to a labor strike at the Western Union. There is bloodshed during the strike. That doesn't scare her. At home, she tries very hard to keep up with Charlotte and a beau. His name is George. She just wants the best for her two sisters. This is her Christian goal throughout the novel.

It's fun to watch her fall in love with the most unlikely of guys, Lincoln. While she ponders the scripture about God's eye staying on the sparrow, I discovered that there are many types of sparrows. I had to laugh to learn that one is named after her suitor, Lincoln. The name for the sparrow is Lincoln's sparrow. This really stretched my imagination. So I took time to look up information on the internet. There really is a Lincoln sparrow.

One of my favorite parts of the novel is Hannah, at work, drawing a sparrow inside of a heart. Instead of thinking of poor Walt who is in jail, she is thinking of Lincoln. I know why she's thinking of Lincoln. Hannah doesn't seem to know why. At this time, she is in denial about her feelings for these two guys.

I disliked Mrs. Frogge, the supervisor at the telephone company. Then, I realized she really added spice to the novel. I really liked this novel. When certain dangerous events happen, I could relate them to something that happened in my life recently. It awakened questions I hadn't thought about. I also liked learning about that period in American History. I thought about the small wages women worked for at that time. Looking forward to reading another book in the series.bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/when-love-calls