One of the best ways to temper the heaviness of a book dealing with hard subjects is the judicious use of humor. Cynthia Ruchti is a new author to me (forgive my stupidity, won’t you?) but the brilliant use of humor to open Facing the Dawn set up a beautiful way to see the personality of a character before her world was turned upside down–genius.
Facing the Dawn should be on every women’s fiction lover’s “next to read” list or at the top of the tottering TBR piles.
What Book Showed Me the Great Author I’ve Missed Out On?
I know you haven’t guessed it or anything!
I had a lovely chat with Cynthia Ruchti last month. We discussed her recent release, Facing the Dawn and talked about so many things including:
- Finding that “lane” each author gets in where we can get into a writing groove that creates those books our readers say, “YES! That’s the one I want from you. It’s a different lane to a different kind of book for each author, but…
- Narrators are amazing and bring our stories to life in a totally different way. This means that sometimes we need to really give those samples on retailer websites more than a couple of sentences to see if it’s going to resonate with us. Facing the Dawn didn’t at first, but after I kept listening… yeah.
- Grief, loss, recovery, and healing… and wow does Cynthia have some good stuff to say and share about that.
- Fun stories about where Cynthia gets some of her ideas and her assurance that she loves school principals!
What did I personally think of Facing the Dawn?
Does the fact that I bought it both in paperback and on Audible mean anything? Did I love Mara and laugh, groan, and weep with her? Well, in theory, I did. We all know I’m not a crier, but man. I wanted to cry.
Did I understand her pain? Yes. I think everyone will relate to her in some fashion, and I’m confident that no reader will walk away from this book without being encouraged and uplifted even as Cynthia absolutely wrecks you on every other page (or so it seems).
Recommended for lovers of excellent women’s fiction and deep fiction. If you enjoy Lisa Wingate, Beth Vogt, Charles Martin, or Deborah Raney… you’re going to want to snag this book.
More about Facing the Dawn
While her humanitarian husband Liam has been digging wells in Africa, Mara Jacobs has been struggling. She knows she’s supposed to feel a warm glow that her husband is nine time zones away, caring for widows and orphans. But the reality is that she is exhausted, working a demanding yet unrewarding job, trying to manage their three detention-prone kids, failing at her to-repair list, and fading like a garment left too long in the sun.
Then Liam’s three-year absence turns into something more, changing everything and plunging her into a sunless grief. As Mara struggles to find her footing, she discovers that even when hope is tenuous, faith is fragile, and the future is unknown, we can be sure we are not forgotten . . . or unloved.
You can find out more about Cynthia Ruchti on her website (including links to all her social media etc.!)
Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at:
Thank you for another insightful post my friend. Neither NYPL nor our local library system have anything she has written, so I have a bit of suggestion work ahead of me because I can’t afford the book