From the highly acclaimed author of The Outcast and The Alliance, which New York Times bestselling author Lisa Wingate called “a book that begs to be savored,” comes an engrossing novel about marriage and motherhood, loss and moving on. When Ruth Neufeld’s husband and father-in-law are killed working for a relief organization overseas, she travels to Wisconsin with her young daughters and … Wisconsin with her young daughters and mother-in-law Mabel to bury her husband. She hopes the Mennonite community will be a quiet place to grieve and piece together next steps.
Ruth and her family are welcomed by Elam, her husband’s cousin, who invites them to stay at his cranberry farm through the harvest. Sifting through fields of berries and memories of a marriage that was broken long before her husband died, Ruth finds solace in the beauty of the land and healing through hard work and budding friendship. She also encounters the possibility of new love with Elam, whose gentle encouragement awakens hopes and dreams she thought she’d lost forever.
But an unexpected twist threatens to unseat the happy ending Ruth is about to write for herself. On the precipice of a fresh start and a new marriage, Ruth must make an impossible decision: which path to choose if her husband isn’t dead after all.
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I love how Jolina Petersheim translates timeless truths into can’t-put-down fiction. This story’s heart-wrenching conflict had me glued to the page.
A mother’s love and a mother’s duty war with a woman’s need to feel loved and whole, in a story that will have you pondering long after you close the final page. Which path would I take?
How the Light Gets In is infused with hope and threaded with love, a story that asks the big questions: what makes us whole, and how do we find our worth? A novel both penetrating and surprising — don’t miss it!
A book about impossible circumstances, How the Light Gets In forced me into uncomfortable places, broke me, then put me back together again. I knew from reading other reviews that there was going to be a twist at the end, so naturally I was guessing what would happen throughout the entire book. I was nowhere close in my guesses, and still very surprised by the ending. Surprised, and absolutely satisfied. This was my first book I read by Jolina, but I’m looking forward to more.
I’m really torn here. This story is beautifully written, compelling, and filled with deep truths (and so the 4-star rating). But I was stunned (not in a good way) by the ending. I would much rather have stuck it out and finished with a deeply melancholy and deeply meaningful ending rather than have that final twist thrown in. Deborah Raney wrote a similar story (Beneath a Southern Sky) that followed the conflict through to the bitter end. If that last twist unsettles you as well, check it out.
Finished this beautiful story in tears. I don’t usually pick up Amish or Mennonite stories–mostly because I love stories about communities that form in the midst of our messy world, not isolated from it. But the number of my friends recommending it prevailed and i’m grateful they did. This is a story about how sin creates struggle for all people. About marriage–the hard, soul-tearing work of it at times, as well as the soul-building strength of it. It’s a retelling of the book of Ruth, and yet in ways you wouldn’t expect. Petersheim is a gorgeous writer that will stir you and make you feel like you are present with her characters, living their story with them. And there’s a reason this is an Audie finalist; her narrator is a master. It’d be a great book club pick.
“But a life well lived wasn’t meant for safety; a life well lived meant flinging your heart into the void.”
I don’t know that I’ve flung my heart anywhere these days. I often feel overwhelmed and completely inadequate for a role that, most of the time, I’m still sure I’m supposed to be in. It’s during these times that I tend to read books like I breathe air. Books that give me hope, books that encourage me to do a little heart flinging now and then, even if it’s not the grandest gesture, even if it’s just a small thing. Jolina Petersheim is one of those few and far between authors that write words that connect with me on a soul-deep level. No matter what the storyline, her words do exactly what I mentioned above – they remind me of life’s goodness, they remind me that I’m not alone, and they infuse me with hope.
How the Light Gets In is a contemporary retelling of the story of Ruth. It’s not a direct line drawn in every aspect of the story, but the heart of the story is there. In this story, Ruth is widowed, and ends up developing a deep and close relationship with her mother-in-law, Mabel. As Ruth attempts to move on, letters and memories of her time with her husband, Chandler, intersperse with the present day storyline. The picturesque Wisconsin farm, with its cranberry bogs and charming cabins, makes a wonderful back-drop for both Ruth’s heart-wrenching plight, but most importantly, her hard-won healing.
I loved the realism within these pages, as well as the secondary characters – Elam, Mabel, little Sophie and Vi, and even Chandler, all flavor this story with emotion and heart. At first the plot ebbs and flows, then escalates, until a powerful reveal left me reeling. I’m honestly still not sure how I feel about it – I’ve thought about it off and on for the past two days, and sometimes my mind changes each time I think about it. This is a great story to drive conversations, what-ifs, and if-onlys. I think it’s the mark of a brilliant writer when the reader is still thinking about and contemplating the story days later. Truly my emotions were all over the place – my heart wanted certain things when my mind said otherwise. The characters touched me that deeply.
How the Light Gets In is a compelling and surprising character-driven story, filled with organic faith and realistic hope. It gently demands that the reader pays attention, that the reader answers Ruth’s questions as they resonate within their own hearts. Do yourself a favor and read the author’s note; its poignant connection to the story resonated with me deeply.
If you haven’t read any of Jolina Petersheim’s novels, I highly recommend you pick one of her books up without delay!
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher – I was not required to post a review, and the view expressed here is my honest opinion.
This beautifully written new book is a modern telling of the story of Ruth. It’s full of sadness and despair over the loss of loved ones and the journey towards finding love and fulfillment in life again.
Ruth’s husband and father in law have been killed while working overseas for a relief organization and she travels to Wisconsin with her young daughters and mother-in-law Mabel to bury her husband. She hopes that living in Mabel’s Mennonite community will help her get over the loss and decide what to do with her life. She is the only person who realizes that her marriage hadn’t been perfect because her husband put the needs of the relief agency over the needs of his wife and small daughters which makes her experience anger with her feelings of loss. Ruth and her daughters stay at her husband’s cousins house. Elam is a quiet man who lives alone and having Ruth and her daughters move in is a very major change for him. As the friendship between Ruth and Elam grows into possible romance, she finds out that she has some very difficult decisions to make about how she is going to live the rest of her life.
This is a beautifully written book about loss and grief; hope and learning to love again; family and faith. It’s my first book by this author but won’t be my last.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
I’m LOVING this book! It’s unpredictable and the writing is top-notch. Although it’s set in Mennonite country on a cranberry farm, its characters are easy to relate to. It’s nice to find a Christian read that focuses on a difficult marriage…it’s not something you frequently see, and it’s the type of book we need more of. I haven’t finished it yet, and I have a feeling it’ll be a surprising ending on some level.
It is actually hard to write this review.
I want my review to reflect the depth of emotion, character, and linguistics that Jolina Petersheim used to convey the touching and beloved story of Ruth. It. Is. Hard. Most everyone who knows me would say that I love books I read a lot of them (and I do mean a lot). Because of that I kind of get bored of the same old same plot that most stories today use, so when I actually find that Diamond in the Ruff (I just watched Aladdin sorry) I share it with my family saying “This book can change your life, please take the time to read it”. This book is one of those.
“How the Light Gets In” by Jolina Petersheim is a wonderful modern retelling of the Biblical story of Ruth & Boaz. I am not usually one to read retellings of Biblical stories, as I think that the Bible tells them best. This however is more of an applied story if that makes sense. Jolina takes the story of Ruth & Boaz and uses it to make you really think and see the life altering impacts that Ruth, Boaz, Naomi and Ruth’s kids went through. It’s filled with so much emotion, laughter, tears, and reflective peace that I couldn’t imagine the story ending. It does though, and in such a beautiful way. I never cry (well almost never), but this story, man this story, I was so invested in the characters I could see Ruth’s thoughts I could feel her sadness. I cried for her, I cried imagining myself having to go through that situation and how I might handle it. At times I would laugh out loud or smile and my husband would ask why I told him the same thing I would tell you. You need to read the book to understand why.
Words cannot express how much I hope that each person who reads this post would pick up a copy of How the Light Gets In and read it, then share it to help change the way we look at our daily lives. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars rating for having depth to the characters, making me think, and making me smile through the tears. You really knocked this one outta the park Jolina Petersheim.
I volunteered to read this book in exchange for my honest review, the thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
Jolina Petersheim
I have read this author’s other novels: The Midwife, The Outcast, The Alliance, and The Divide. I enjoyed each story she shared with readers, but this one for me is really the best of her work thus far. The brilliance in the story is revealed at the end which is surprising and heart-grabbing to say the least! Here is a book I would recommend to married couples which will be understood after it has been read cover to cover.
The book is raw emotion, heart-engaging and gripping to the max! Best of all it brings out the hope that lies dormant in the heart if not stirred occasionally by stories like this book. Jolina also shares her own life and heart at the end of the book to show us that all of us struggle and can battle by praying for our spouses to come out the other side changed and filled with hope.
As I read the book, at times, I was wondering why the author went the way she did with the characters’ actions or words, but the brilliance in the tale is quite bright when readers are done. I enjoyed the tough issues Jolina’s characters had to face, then cry out to God and wait for Him to act on their behalf. I didn’t want to stop reading the book because my heart wanted to know the answers to the questions asked, or the next pregnant pause that made me catch my breath as I awaited the revelation.
Jolina’s other novels are very enjoyable and I highly recommend them. How the Light Gets In though really sets this work apart from her others, and readers will be talking about it long after they are through. Get ready for a heart-pulling ride as you turn pages and then the hope that floods your soul when you understand at the end all that occurred earlier in the story. What an awesome book I am sharing with a friend and hoping you will too after you read it!
I received a copy from Tyndall Fiction and thank them for the opportunity to read this beautifully written novel. Jolina Petersheim is a very gifted writer and while the Christian genre is not preferred by me, I never felt that it was “preachy”!
This is a story of Ruth, a devoted mother and wife, who lives a very hard life, as the spouse of a humanitarian physician in Columbia and Afghanistan. Her struggle with loneliness, marital discord and unhappiness, while trying to maintain a nurturing environment for her girls, is overwhelming. And then the tragic loss of her husband Chandler, sets her world spinning off its axis, as she is left with no home, no money and no emotional support.
I really enjoyed the beautiful writing of this author until the ending, which had me re-reading the conclusion. I’m at a loss to say how I wish it would have ended, but I was left bewildered! This said, the book definitely is worth the read! I’m grateful for the experience!
At page 271 I was so engrossed in the story’s twist I could not move off the couch, even though I could smell dinner burning! The ending I did not see coming.
What an incredible, incredible, surprising book. Petersheim writes with tenderness and power, taking her reader on an emotional ride that reaches the full spectrum of feeling. True to life characters, spot on dialogue, SHOCKING plot line…this book is master level writing.
Highly recommend for those who enjoy Christian fiction on the more literary side.
How the Light Gets In by Jolina Petersheim
This is my first book by author Jolina Petersheim, I doubt it will be my last. In How the Light Gets In, she takes a modern – day twist on the biblical story of Ruth. There were so many plot twists I never saw coming, even to the very end. As I turned the last page I sit here thinking and reflecting on the martial truths I learned. I wondered what was real. I honestly never expected the end or the many plot twists. I do know my eyes were opened to the real meaning of family and community. I was shown there is hope to be found in the mist of hardships, grief and the hurts of life. This book encouraged me to take a fresh look at how I approach strife in my marriage. And I also had to go back and reread the book of Ruth. I read many books but it is rare for one to touch me as much as this one did.
The author Jolina Petersheim did an outstanding job of developing the characters in fact she brought them to life. The plot has many twists and turns. It is a fastest paced book that engages you. I give How the Light Gets In 5 stars and look forward to reading my next Jolina Petersheim novel.
This is a beautiful book! Jolina Petershiem has given us a wonderful book about love and loss. Ruth returns to Wisconsin with her children and mother-in-law to bury her husband. She is surrounded by the peaceful Mennonite community and welcomed in by Elam, her husband’s cousin. Ruth begins to heal and thinks she may find love again. Then something unexpected happens! What will this do to the new life she has created? Read this gem of a book to find out!
How the Light Gets In is one of the best books I have read so far this year. I was not sure how I would like it when I first read the blurb, but once I opened it up, I was hooked. I could not put it down until the end. It has quite a twist that I had no idea was coming. A reader will never predict what happens throughout this book. The author’s note in the end helps explain how and why Miss Petersheim wrote this story. Readers should have their tissues ready. I was not prepared to do so.
I would give How the Light Gets In one hundred stars if I could. It would be very well deserved. It is most definitely a must read. I highly highly recommend this book. I would love to read more like this one by Jolina Petersheim in the future.
Great read!
I received this book from the publisher, but was not required to write a review. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.
How the Light Gets In by Jolina Petersheim is a Christian contemporary fiction retelling of the Biblical story of Ruth, about marriage and motherhood and grief and impossible choices. Ruth Neufeld finds herself in her late husband’s Mennonite community in Wisconsin trying to reconcile her grief of her husband’s death with the grief of a marriage that was already all but dead before the hospital bombing that took her husband Chandler’s life. Her heart grieves not only for herself for what might have been but for her two little girls. She grieves for the loss of her own dreams and the life she envisioned as a young hopeful bride. Chandler’s cousin Elam dutifully takes in Ruth and her daughters, along with her mother-in-law, Mabel. The quiet farm where Elam runs a cranberry bog business provides the peaceful setting Ruth needs to try to deal with her grief and figure out how to move on.
Ruth’s grief is palpable – you feel her pain and as a mother relate to trying to hide that pain to shield your children, to be strong for them. And then as the story unfolds you feel the glimmer of hope as Ruth reluctantly allows the light of Elam’s tender friendship to awaken her heart.
And just when you’re primed and ready to see them fall in love and get their happily ever after, along comes a plot twist to wreck your plans! (Isn’t that just like life?!?)
This is the first book by Jolina Petershiem I have had the pleasure of reading and I am STUNNED by the realism and the depth of this story, not to mention the plot twists that literally took my breath away and caused me to cry out in disbelief sitting in my mom van in the parking lot of my daughter’s dance studio!
And then there’s the truth woven throughout the book – that marriage is hard. It is sacrificial. It is grueling at times. And how it is so easy to be blind to our own faults while at the same time magnifying and dwelling on the faults of our spouse.
This book helped me to see the sin in my own heart in my marriage and gave me new perspective to see my husband through new eyes. It helped me to resolve to once again put my husband at the forefront of my prayers (like Mabel advised Ruth) and to allow God to change ME through those prayers. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
I highly recommend this book and want to thank Tyndale Fiction for the advanced reader’s copy of this beautiful and powerful book. Oh! And I want to thank the Lord for blessing authors like Jolina Petershiem with the gift of writing stories that shine His light and compel us to be better servants of His.
Insightful. . . . Poignant. . . . How the Light Gets In will work its way into readers’ minds and stay there long after the last page. Petersheim . . . once again proves herself to be a standout voice in Christian fiction.
I have just finished reading “How the Light Gets In” by Jolina Petersheim. Oh my!!! So much deeply felt emotion, so much breath-stopping grief, so much anger, so much joy, and so much unconditional love. I have added it to my re-readable shelf. I would love to buy my own book so I can go back and underline all the parts that touched my heart with wisdom, warmth, and passion. It is a very inspirational story. I recommend it to everyone, no matter what age you are, or what circumstances you find yourself in at this moment. I cannot wait for the next one!