The Song of Sourwood Mountain by Ann H. Gabhart

The Song of Sourwood Mountain
by Ann H. Gabhart

ISBN-13: 9780800741730
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Revell
Released: May 7, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
While the century began with such promise, it is 1910 when Mira Dean's hopes of being a wife and mother are dashed to pieces. Her fiancé dead from tuberculosis, Mira resigns herself to being a spinster schoolteacher--until Gordon Covington shows up. No longer the boy she knew from school, Gordon is now a preacher who is full of surprises. First, he asks Mira to come to Sourwood in eastern Kentucky to teach at his mission school. Second, he asks her to marry him. Just like that. And all at once the doors that had seemed firmly shut begin to open, just a crack. With much trepidation, Mira steps out in faith into a life she never imagined, in a place filled with its own special challenges, to serve a people who will end up becoming the family she always dreamed of.


My Review:
The Song of Sourwood Mountain is a Christian romance set in 1910 in Kentucky. I didn't like Gordon at first. He hadn't seen Mira for years, felt God prompted him to talk with her about teaching at his mission school, and then promptly pushed hard on the 'God wants you to marry me and teach at my mission school' without any sort of lead-up or courting. Mira was somewhat interested in the mission school, but she rejected his abrupt marriage proposal. Yet he kept pushing it as an all or nothing deal. Even Mira's landlady pushed her to consider Gordon's proposal. It felt like both had selfish reason (as the landlady felt guilty about having to kick her out and Gordon would get a free housekeeper and schoolteacher).

Mira felt like God closed all the doors locally so she had no choice but to accept Gordon just at the same time Gordon began to realize he'd gone about things wrong. He turned out to be a supportive, loving husband who did his best to make her happy. Both worried that Mira would never return his love. While the story arc was the proposal to Mira deciding if she loved Gordon or not a year later, the real story was more about Mira seeing God's hand in her life through life's blessing and sorrows.

Once they got to the mission, the mountain folk and their customs made the story funny and interesting. Mira got to know the women and children, and we also had the point of view of a wild, 10-year-old orphan girl that Mira reached out to. The historical and cultural details were woven into the story without slowing it down.

The orphan girl was confused about praying to God for people's healing when God took so many of them away from her anyway. There were no sex scenes (though married sex is implied). There was no bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable historical.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.