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About the Book
Book: Shine Like the Dawn
Author: Carrie Turansky
Genre: Historical
In a quiet corner of northern Edwardian England, Margaret Lounsbury diligently works in her grandmother’s millinery shop, making hats and caring for her young sister. Several years earlier, a terrible tragedy reshaped their family, shattering an idyllic life and their future prospects. But Maggie is resilient and will do what she must to protect her sister Violet. Still, the loss of her parents weighs heavily on her heart and she begins to wonder if what happened that day on the lake…might not have been an accident.
When wealthy inventor and industrialist William Harcourt dies, his son Nathaniel, who is Maggie’s estranged childhood friend, returns from his time in the Royal Navy and inherits his father’s vast estate, Morningside Manor. He also assumes partial control of his father’s engineering company and the duty of repaying an old debt to the Lounsbury family. But years of separation between Nate and Maggie have taken a toll and Maggie struggles to trust her old friend.
Can Maggie let go of the resentment that keeps her from forgiving Nate—and reconciling with God? Will their search for the truth about her parents’ death draw them closer or will it leave them both with broken hearts?
My Review:
Starting with an accident that didn't make sense, and really frustrated me, Maggie finds herself and her youngest sister the sole survivors. Without anywhere else to live, they live with their Grandmother in a millenary shop. (That is a hat shop for those who aren't use to that term.) Maggie and her Grandmother make hats for the wealthy ladies who are having their daughters out on season, to find husbands. It's a living, although it's often a tight one. Customers can be very fickle and compation stiff. They are getting by, but that is about all.
Before the accident, Nate was the guy of Maggie's dreams. Then he vanished. Now he is back, and Maggie is dealing with a flood of emotions. Nate's father did some things that seem to be very underhanded to Maggie and her anger is overflowing. Nate is just hurt, and confused, because some puzzle pieces are missing. All he did was come home, a war hero, but he is home to deal with his father's impending death.
Why will Maggie not forgive him and what happened that he doesn't know about? Why is Maggie's family dead? It doesn't add up, and she was there, for the most part. Their deaths, and the death of her middle sister, is against all logic, but don't give up! Keep reading. The road to solving what happened to Maggie's family is going to draw her and Nate together, and closer to God, or tear them apart even more than they were before.
I enjoyed the nice selection of both the upper and "lower" classes in this book. I was rooting for Nate, and felt badly for Maggie. Her emotions, though incorrect, were easy to understand under her circumstances. Trust, faith, forgiveness, allowing God to work in ways you don't get at first, romance, grief, healing, all these topics and then some are in this one book. I enjoyed it. It's a good read for escaping to another story set in a time that is no longer our own, and yet still reaches into emotions and complicates that are present day.
Shine Like the Dawn does mange to shine, and I would recommend it as a good clean read for anyone who likes period stories, or appreciates descriptive settings, and good mystery plots.
About the Author
My Review:
Starting with an accident that didn't make sense, and really frustrated me, Maggie finds herself and her youngest sister the sole survivors. Without anywhere else to live, they live with their Grandmother in a millenary shop. (That is a hat shop for those who aren't use to that term.) Maggie and her Grandmother make hats for the wealthy ladies who are having their daughters out on season, to find husbands. It's a living, although it's often a tight one. Customers can be very fickle and compation stiff. They are getting by, but that is about all.
Before the accident, Nate was the guy of Maggie's dreams. Then he vanished. Now he is back, and Maggie is dealing with a flood of emotions. Nate's father did some things that seem to be very underhanded to Maggie and her anger is overflowing. Nate is just hurt, and confused, because some puzzle pieces are missing. All he did was come home, a war hero, but he is home to deal with his father's impending death.
Why will Maggie not forgive him and what happened that he doesn't know about? Why is Maggie's family dead? It doesn't add up, and she was there, for the most part. Their deaths, and the death of her middle sister, is against all logic, but don't give up! Keep reading. The road to solving what happened to Maggie's family is going to draw her and Nate together, and closer to God, or tear them apart even more than they were before.
I enjoyed the nice selection of both the upper and "lower" classes in this book. I was rooting for Nate, and felt badly for Maggie. Her emotions, though incorrect, were easy to understand under her circumstances. Trust, faith, forgiveness, allowing God to work in ways you don't get at first, romance, grief, healing, all these topics and then some are in this one book. I enjoyed it. It's a good read for escaping to another story set in a time that is no longer our own, and yet still reaches into emotions and complicates that are present day.
Shine Like the Dawn does mange to shine, and I would recommend it as a good clean read for anyone who likes period stories, or appreciates descriptive settings, and good mystery plots.
About the Author
CARRIE TURANSKY is an award-winning author of more than a dozen novels and novellas. She has been the winner of the ACFW Carol Award, the Crystal Globe Award, and the International Digital Award, and a finalist for the Inspirational Readers Choice Award and the Maggie Award of Excellence. A prolific writer of contemporary and historical romance, women’s fiction, short stories, articles, and devotionals, Carrie lives in central New Jersey with her husband Scott. They have five adult children and four grandchildren.Guest Post from Carrie Turansky
Hats, Glorious Hats!
By Carrie Turansky
One fun part of my research for Shine Like the Dawn was learning about hat making in the early 1900s. My heroine, Maggie Lounsbury is a milliner who designs women’s hats. She learned this skill from her grandmother who owns a small shop in the village of Heatherton. Maggie has an artistic eye and she enjoys making stylish hats, but she doesn’t like the overdone designs some of their customers request, so that creates some humorous conflict in the story.
Hats in the Edwa
rdian era were large and often covered with feathers, flowers, lace, netting, berries and bows. The “bird nests,” as Coco Chanel called them, were held on with large hat pins stuck through piles of hair on the crown. These hats were called Gainsborough or Picture hats because of the way they framed a lady’s face. They often featured huge dried flower arrangements and sometimes included real leaves and twigs! No doubt the Garden hat was a fitting name.
1907 The Merry Window hat became very popular after the leading lady in the play by that same name wore a hat that was even taller and wider than usual. Some people complained these hats were too big and obtrusive in public places like the theater or picture shows. But English women loved them and wore them to all kinds of events.
rdian era were large and often covered with feathers, flowers, lace, netting, berries and bows. The “bird nests,” as Coco Chanel called them, were held on with large hat pins stuck through piles of hair on the crown. These hats were called Gainsborough or Picture hats because of the way they framed a lady’s face. They often featured huge dried flower arrangements and sometimes included real leaves and twigs! No doubt the Garden hat was a fitting name.1907 The Merry Window hat became very popular after the leading lady in the play by that same name wore a hat that was even taller and wider than usual. Some people complained these hats were too big and obtrusive in public places like the theater or picture shows. But English women loved them and wore them to all kinds of events.
The popularity of using large feathers and stuffed birds on hats caused concern for the welfare of birds. Many protective laws took effect and milliners had to use more ribbon and tulle and only large ostrich feathers to decorate hats. Those ostrich feathers came from birds that were raised on farms and their feathers were collected as they fell out naturally.
The movement toward smaller hats began around 1913 when hats still had high crowns but smaller brims. Straw boaters, small top hats, and mini versions of picture hats were very common.
The movement toward smaller hats began around 1913 when hats still had high crowns but smaller brims. Straw boaters, small top hats, and mini versions of picture hats were very common.
Motion pictures had the greatest influence on Edwardian hat fashion. After the release of The Three Musketeers many ladies wanted to wear tricorne and bicorne shaped hats. They were still very large but now had shapes other than just round. Hat brims were folded up on the side, at an angle, or all around to create drama. Veils disappeared in the early 1900s only to come back again as a long scarf that wrapped over the hat and under the chin for the new sport called motoring.
I’ve had fun dressing Edwardian style for book launch tea parties and other book events. It made me feel very special to wear these lovely hats. What do you think of Edwardian Hats? Would you like to wear one?
Thanks to friends at the Vintage Dancer website for some of this information.
Stop by Carrie’s Facebook author page and view her live videos February 21 – 25, 3:00 pm Eastern. She’ll be talking about the story behind Shine Like the Dawn and giving away a fun prize each day to one person who leaves a comment. Even if you can’t catch the live video you can still enter for 24 hours after it’s posted. She is also hosting a book launch celebration and giveaway on her blog February 25 – March 6.
Like to my Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/
Link to my Book Launch Blog Post: http://carrieturansky.com/
Blog Stops
February 21: New Horizon Reviews
February 21: Bookworm Mama
February 21: Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses
February 22: Tell Tale Book Reviews
February 22: Book by Book
February 22: History, Mystery and Faith
February 23: Bibliophile Reviews
February 23: Smiling Book Reviews
February 23: A Readers Brain
February 23: Faithfully Bookish
February 23: Lane Hill House
February 24: Back Porch Reads
February 24: The Scribbler
February 24: I Hope You Dance
February 25: Stuff & Nonsense
February 25: The Power of Words
February 25: A Greater Yes
February 26: cherylbbookblog
February 26: Moments Dipped in Ink
February 26: Splashes of Joy
February 27: Genesis 5020
February 27: inklings and notions
February 27: D’S QUILTS & BOOKS
February 28: Karen Sue Hadley
February 28: A Simple Life, really?!
February 28: Neverending Stories
March 1: Daysong Reflections
March 1: Connie’s History Classroom
March 1: Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations
March 2: These Splendid Sentences
March 2: Singing Librarian Books
March 2: Blossoms and Blessings
March 3: Pause for Tales
March 3: blogging With Carol
March 3: Mary Hake
March 4: Radiant Light
March 4: For The Love of Books
March 5: Christian Bookaholic
March 5: Rachel Scott McDaniel
March 6: Baker Kella
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away all 4 books: Shine Like the Dawn, The Governess of Highland Hall, The Daughter of Highland Hall, and A Refuge at Highland Hall.! Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/b0fb
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2 comments:
Hi Carol, thanks for featuring Shine Like the Dawn on your blog today! I've enjoyed connecting with the Celebrate Lit team. Glad you enjoyed Nate and Maggie's story. Blessings to you! Carrie
I'd love to win these books!! jarning67(at)hotmail(dot)com
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