Every Hill and Mountain
book 3
An old house + A new computer program =
The travel opportunity of a lifetime—to another century.
The People
Since Beautiful Houses worked so well for the Old Dears’ family tree project, her college roommate Kate hopes the computer program will help her find out more about her ancestor Ned Greenfield.
Abby and John reluctantly agree to help Kate, but only on … John reluctantly agree to help Kate, but only on the condition that she and her fiancé Ryan promise to keep the program a secret, because if the government ever discovered they possessed a computer program that allows you to rewind and fast forward the lives of people it would surely want to get its hands on it.
The two couples take a trip to the tiny town of Equality, set in the hills of southern Illinois and the breath-taking Shawnee National Forest. According to Kate’s research, Ned Greenfield was born there at a place called Hickory Hill.
The mayor, police chief, and townspeople are hospitable and helpful—until the topic of Hickory Hill comes up. Then they are determined to keep them away. Eventually they find Hickory Hill on their own—both the mansion and the lonely hill it sits upon.
The House
Built in 1834, Hickory Hill stands sentinel over Half Moon Salt Mine where the original owner John Granger accumulated his blood-tainted fortune with the use of slave labor. In the free state of Illinois—the Land of Lincoln.
Abby and her friends meet Miss Granger, Hickory Hill’s current eccentric owner, and they eventually get the chance to run Beautiful Houses there. Their shocking discovery on the third floor concerning Kate’s ancestor Ned Greenfield is almost too much to bear. What they learn sends them racing to the opposite end of the state to find the missing link in Kate’s family tree. And there they are reminded that God is in the business of redemption—that one day he’ll make all things new.
more
After Abby helped the “Old Dears” find out about their ancestors, Abby’s college roommate, Kate, shows up asking for Abby to do the same for her. Kate is under the impression that the computer program that Abby used is a genealogy program which is definitely is not. Abby would not have a problem helping Kate but Kate is not alone. Kate brought new fiance, Ryan, with her. Abby just does not get a warm feeling about Ryan as when Kate is around Ryan, Kate seems to be a completely different person when she is with Ryan. Reluctantly Abby agrees to help Kate as long as she promises to keep what the program is really a secret.
I couldn’t wait to start reading this one after I finished the 2nd book. This is a series where I recommend reading the books in orders as one picks up where the last one leaves off. As I read each book the new book became my favorite in the series. This is a terrific series and this was my favorite book by far. The characters are well developed and I couldn’t pick out a favorite character as they are almost all wonderful characters. I can, however, tell you which characters I didn’t like but these characters are needed to make the storyline as good as it was. The historical aspect of the mystery is interesting and I really enjoyed learning about the past events that took place in Illinois.
I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator Michelle Babb makes this story come to life. Michelle is a wonderful storyteller, she is great with accents, timing, and giving characters personality. She definitely made a good book a great book for me.
I recommend this book to young adults, historical mystery, and Christian mystery fans. I voluntarily read this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.
historic-buildings, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, ya-only-means-no-gratuitous-erotica, coming-of-age, Christian-fiction*****
The publisher’s blurb is pretty comprehensive and I have no need to replicate or do spoilers. The story is on two levels, the present with interpersonal issues involved in the coming of age phenomena and a rude awakening to some very unpleasant aspect of local history.
It’s a great story and very easy to listen to. Michelle Babb always seems to know how to bring out the most in the stories and characters she narrates with distinct characters and inflections, and excellent timing.
This review is for the audio book.
Well I enjoyed this series and am sad it has come to an end. I liked the way the author weaved the stories together and came up with an out come I didn’t see coming. I liked the mystery surrounding the history and even though it is not my normal listen I did find myself enjoying all three books and more importantly caring about what happened to the characters. The strong cast of characters made it so intriguing and there reactions to the information they found out. The author was also very clever breaking up the history with troubles in the real world and managed to do something most history teacher’s can only ever hope to do and that is suck a pupil back into the past and recreate a world that seems so real. Making history fun.
With all the talk about history, Abby’s friend Kate has decided she wants to do the same and research her own family tree and she needs Abby’s help, or more accurately Abby software program. This leads Abby and her boyfriend John joining Kate and her boyfriend Ryan on a trip to Equality and a journey back in time. Are they about to learn something that will change there lives because once again the programme Beautiful homes has something it wants to show them. Something in there past could affect one of there future’s.
Once again I enjoyed the narrator and this time round was even treated to her singing voice. As a narrator she is a bonus to any story read by her because she brings it alive.
This is book 3 in this series. I read book 1 and 2 and enjoyed them a lot. This book was not one of my favorites. The book deals with some very difficult to read facts. I am sure that this book is based on fact but it seemed a little much for the audience that I thought this book was aimed at. I also had a hard time with the character Kate. In the first 2 books she plays more of a side roll. But even though she was not one of the main characters she seemed different than she was portrayed in this book. She comes across as being very shallow and her boyfriend/ fiance is just horrible. I found the narration by Michelle Babb to be wonderful as was the first 2 books. This book is worth reading just not as wonderful as the first 2.
I was gifted this book with the understanding that I would leave an honest review.