Friday, January 10, 2014

Songs of the Shenandoah by Michael K. Reynolds

Songs of the Shenandoah is the third and final book in the Heirs of Ireland series. The series chronicles an Irish family that comes to America to escape the potato famine but find different challenges as America's growing pains threaten the very fabric of their new homeland.

Issues such as slavery and succession inadvertently divide the Hanley family as the North and the South are set on a collision course of destruction and bloodshed.

Clare is the glue that has held the family together, but her husband's New York newspaper is falling apart fast as advertisers pull their support in protest of its stand against slavery.

Seamus and Ashlyn have moved to Ashlyn's abandoned family farm in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. Seamus' faith is shaken due to some disasters and feels like a failure.

Youngest brother Davin struck it rich in California, but at what personal cost?

I loved this book. The characters are well drawn and complex. Mr. Reynolds' research helped me to understand another layer of the Civil War. For instance, I was unaware of the exploitation of the Irish--they were given a flag and placed on the front lines. He also explored the reality of good and bad people on both sides of the Mason Dixon line.

This is Christian fiction that anyone could read and enjoy. It would also be a great "stand alone".
For more about Michael K. Reynolds and this book, please read the following information!




This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Songs of the Shenandoah

B&H Books (January 1, 2014)


by

Michael Reynolds


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Michael K. Reynolds is a writer with more than two decades of experience in crafting fiction, non-fiction, journalism, copywriting and documentary production. He is the author of a series of Irish historical novels published by B&H Publishing Group. These highly acclaimed books are available in bookstores and libraries across the nation and beyond.

Michael is the writer and producer of an Emmy and Telly award-winning series of documentaries titled, Crystal Darkness. These thirty minute anti-meth films have been heavily promoted and broadcast in cities and states throughout the United States and Mexico. They have been viewed collectedly by more than 10 million people and the message has reached more than 30 million to date.

He also has wide experience as a speaker and on-air personality and has been interviewed on a variety of newspapers, radio stations and televisions networks throughout the nation.

Michael earned his B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of California, San Diego and lives in Reno with his wife and three children. He is active in marketplace, marriage, small group and men’s ministries as a leader and speaker.


ABOUT THE BOOK



At the onset of the Civil War, Seamus heeds his wife’s wishes to return to her beloved family farm in the South, where he takes a post as chaplain for General Stonewall Jackson’s brigade. As Seamus ministers to the troops, his sister Clare ministers in a different way—by being a powerful voice in the Northern cause toward freeing the slaves. All this while their youngest brother Davin, who became wealthy during the Gold Rush, struggles to find love and identity in a fallen world. It’s a clash of loyalties and beliefs that threaten the entire family, each of them trying to hear God’s encouragement in the midst of the tragedy of war. The dramatic conclusion to the acclaimed Heirs of Ireland Series.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Songs of the Shenandoah, go HERE.



8 comments:

Rachna Chhabria said...

Heirs of Ireland has such a lovely sound to it. It makes me curious to read more.

Cheryl Klarich said...

Rachna!!! Good to have you stop by!!

Michael Reynolds is a wonderful story teller and writer! I thing you'd enjoy his style. :)

Bless you!!!

Dana said...

This sounds like another good book. One reason I like reading books with Irish characters might sound kind of silly--I think their names are just beautiful!

Cheryl Klarich said...

Dana--I LOVE that observation--character names are so important!

Bless you!!

Terri Tiffany said...

I love Civil war era books. It sounds really good--how on earth do you read so many??

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

It sounds enlightening and suspenseful. Good luck to Michael with this one.

Blessings to you, dear Cheryl.

xoRobyn

Cheryl Klarich said...

Hi Terri! A big congrats on your new book contract!!
I knew you would succeed!! Me? Love to READ!!! Plus-it's easy with so many great books being published by the Christian publishing houses... I'm not just saying that to be gratuitous...

Bless you!

Cheryl Klarich said...

Robyn!! So good to have you "visit". :) I think you'd enjoy "Songs..." I learned some cool things about the time period without getting bogged down in it all.

(((hugs))) :)