A Silken Thread by Kim Vogel Sawyer

A Silken Thread by Kim Vogel Sawyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed A Silken Thread by Kim Vogel Sawyer. First off I love historical fiction, I love going back in time, how did people live, what was their daily life like. I also love the christian aspect, so far a perfect book for me!
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This book, I’ll admit, was slow to start for me, but once the setting and characters were established I really enjoyed it! Going back to 1895, Atlanta, we meet Laurel, a young girl who is reading and restless. Sunday afternoon, her momma is napping, all her siblings arrive, one by one. Laurel knows something is wrong. What she doesn’t know is they have all decided since she was the youngest, the one to hold her mother back, she needs to vow to take care of her for the rest of her life. No marriage, no life, until momma has gone to her glory. Laurel can’t believe they all decided her future for her. She loves her momma but doesn’t she deserve her own family?
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In a conversation with her mother, Laurel confesses she would like a beau but none of the boys in their neighborhood and church interest her or seem to be interested. Her mother decides Laurel should apply as a silk weaver at the expo coming to Atlanta, the Atlanta Cotton Exposition of 1895.. Perhaps she can get out, meet people, meet a wonderful beau, and enjoy learning to weave silk. Laurel and her mother a excellent at the loom and sell rugs they make for money to support them.

Also working at the Expo are Willie Sharp and Quincy Tate, best friends for their whole life, both Christians. Willie is hired as a security guard and Quincy as groundskeeper. Willie is thrilled to be hired as his father was taken ill several months ago and Willie needs the money to pay for the convalescent hospital so his father can heal. He is granted by his employer to take the 3 months off and earn excellent pay to put towards his father’s hospitalization. Quincy and Willie, best friends forever, but can their friendship last beyond their neighborhood, pressures, prejudices exist in the south, and Quincy is know to get angry.

Langdon Rochester dislikes work, dislikes his father’s factory, but he loves the fancy life and the money. He is told now that he has graduated college, he needs to work at the factory and learn how it runs if he is interested in his inheritance, the factory. Another stipulation, he must be engaged within one year, settle down, stop his wild ways, or the factory will be given to his cousin, who has faithfully been working their for a few years.

Since they will have a booth at the Expo, Langdon begs his father to allow him to man the booth. Anything to get out of the factory and it’s tedious boredom. After Langdon passes the test on knowledge his father grants him his wish. Langdon decides he should take this time to find an impressionable, malleable, naive young girl to woo and marry, to satisfy the obligation.

Laurel meets Langdon, she thinks she is falling in love. But things aren’t always quite right. She also meets Willie Sharp as a guard to the Silk Room where she is working.

Trouble at the Expo has left questions, racial divisions, destruction, and a thief to be caught.
Will Laurel and Langdon find a happy ever after, he can certainly take care of her and her mother. Will Willie and Quincy remain friends after racial tension become obvious.
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Such a great cast of characters! I love the subject matter, and I love how she urges us to seek God for these answers, are we living the life God has chosen for us, are we on the path he has created for us?! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah but was under no obligation to write a review. All opinions are my own.



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