Beside Two Rivers by Rita Gerlach

Darcy’s story and the sequel to Before the Scarlet Dawn:

Eliza Morgan’s daughter seeks to unravel a lifetime of memories and the absence of her parents, unaware that the young Englishman who loves her holds the answers. Her search takes her far from her beloved home along the Potomac, to a manor house in faraway England.

Will she discover the secrets of the past and be reunited with the most important people in her life? Will Hayward and Eliza find peace and reconciliation? Will Darcy’s faith sustain her to make the difficult choices, and will love endure?

About the Author:

Rita Gerlach lives with her husband and two sons in a historical town nestled along the Catoctin Mountains, amid Civil War battlefields and Revolutionary War outposts in central Maryland.  In many of her stories, she writes about the struggles endured by early colonists, with both American and English settings. Her new historical series for Abingdon Press entitled ‘Daughters of the Potomac‘ was launched in February 2012, with Before the Scarlet Dawn, book 1, followed by Beside Two Rivers, and Beyond the Valley to be released in February 2013. In 2009, Abingdon Press released Surrender the Wind, which gained four and five star reviews.

You can visit her blog at http://ritagerlach.blogspot.com.

Connect with Rita on Facebook.

Excerpt:

The Potomac Heights, Maryland
1797

She’d been warned not to venture far from the house, nor go near the river, nor climb the dark shale bluffs above it. But Darcy Morgan had inherited an adventurous spirit that could not be bridled. It had been her favorite place to retreat since the age of nine, when she had discovered it one morning while trekking with her cousins over the ridge that shadowed the Potomac River.

Bathed in sunlight, she stood at the bluff’s edge and gazed down at the water like she had one hundred times before. She looked at the sky. Pink and pearled, speckled with white summer clouds, it looked heaven-like in the glow of a golden dusk.

Mottle-winged caddis flies danced in hordes at the brink and Darcy paused to study them. How could such delicate wings flit so high without turning to dust in the breeze? It caressed her face, blew back her dark hair and eased through her cotton dress. She breathed deep the scent of wild honeysuckle that traveled with it. Drowsy warmth hung everywhere, while the birds sang evening vespers.

With closed eyes, Darcy listened to the water tumble over the boulders and rocks below. Stretching out her arms, she turned in a circle and soaked in the majesty of creation.

“Darcy . . . Darcy Morgan . . . Where are you, you adventuresome pixie?”

Turning she spied her uncle, William Breese, as he lumbered along the ridge toward her. With caution, he stepped over rocks, between roots of great trees, a barrel-chested man with stocky legs. His eyes were pale green against his swarthy face, his head framed in a nimbus of white hair. Darcy’s father, Hayward Morgan, had been his half-brother, and Darcy wondered if her father’s eyes had been like her uncle’s, for she could not remember his face. Breathless, her uncle glanced up to see her, and she skipped down the path toward him.

My Thoughts:

I love this series - Christian fiction is right up my alley and this book fit the bill for sure!  Rita Gerlach was first introduced to me through a Christian Fiction Book Club and this novel, everyone agreed, was a fantastic choice.  When I saw it up for review I just knew I needed to help promote it!

Darcy is a great character...one that you are truly vested in throughout the novel and intrigued to find out what becomes of her!  I went back and read the first novel to get a feel for what to expect and I am so glad I did - what a building block it provided! 

History...secrets, and a great line-up of characters makes this a fantastic read.  Congratulations to Ms. Gerlach on an amazing novel, I am so looking forward to the third book in this series which is due out in 2013.