Braving Strange Waters by Sarah Hanks

This interesting book deals a little with justice and a lot with redemption. It’s a time sailor book. I’m not sure if that’s a sub-genre, but it’s basically time travel back into an historic period. In this case, the time traveler goes back to 1856 Missouri and Kansas on a riverboat navigating the Mississippi River.

This book is about three Christian women on a cruise before one of them (Stella) is to be married. During the cruise, Stella disappears and finds herself on a riverboat in 1856. The book alternates between the two time periods, giving us Stella’s point of view in 1856 and her two friends’ points of view (Claire and Wendy) in modern times.

Stella is taken into this time period to accomplish a mission. The implication, though never directly stated, is that God is the one doing this time/space manipulation. This historical period of this book is the strength and the most interesting for me. Stella is not a brave person and is forced to become courageous to carry out her mission, which involves battling slavery during the height of that evil institution. Stella is also forced to learn to better rely on God.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. Actually, back at the ship, Claire and Wendy frantically search for a way to help Stella return to her time period. However, both of these characters get distracted by men they meet during their attempts to help Stella. All three of these women enter this story with a heavy load of baggage. The story shows all three of them working through these issues. What makes it both difficult for the characters and interesting, though sometimes frustrating for the reader, is that none of the supposedly best friends talked to the others about the issues they are dealing with.

This is a Christian book. And what I really liked about it is the way these three strong Christian women have struggles they have to battle. None of them are perfect little goody-two-shoes. They are realistic people with real problems. When they are not relying on God, the struggles intensify.

The part that I wasn’t thrilled about was the budding romances of Wendy and Claire. A little too much girly touchy-feely stuff for me. But that’s just personal preference and it didn’t get in the way of a fast-paced, fascinating story.

As a Christian novel, it’s clean. No profanity. No on page sex other than a lot of kissing. And no graphic violence. It’s getting tough to rank these books as once again, another good book for this year. The streak continues. I’ll rank it seventh, though 6 – 11 are so close they could be tied for the sixth spot.

1. The Record Keeper by Charles Martin
2. The Samaritan’s Patient by Chevron Ross
3. Days Coming by Pat Simmons
4. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. Where is My Sister by Jane Daly
7. Braving Strange Waters by Sarah Hanks
8. Blood Red Deceit by Steve Rush
9. The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
10. Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke
11. A Vanishing Act by Edwina Kiernan
12. Cali’s Hope by John Matthew Walker
13. Field Training by Patrick O’Donnell
14. Deadly Pursuit by Elle Gray
    

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