First sentence: "Momma, Momma, watch me."
Premise/plot: Love true crime stories? Love historical fiction? Enjoy Christian fiction? The Pink Bonnet is the second book in the True Colors series published by Barbour Books. Each book in the series focuses on an American crime. The Pink Bonnet focuses on the case of Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children's Home Society.
Cecile Dowd is a widow struggling to raise her three year old daughter, Millie. But even on the hardest days, Cecile would never, ever, ever consent to give up her daughter for adoption. Why would she? Though their home may not be fancy and their food abundant--it is the Depression after all--she does provide a good home for her daughter. And she loves Millie with all her heart.
When a neighbor offers to babysit Millie so that Cecile can go on a job interview, Cecile says YES, thank you. When she returns, her daughter is gone. Her neighbor signed the consent forms for Millie to be put up for adoption. Is this a matter of misunderstanding? Can Cecile go to the Tennessee Children's Home and ask for her daughter back? Can she convince the authorities that her daughter was kidnapped, that she never consented to give her daughter away? If it was this would be a short story. But though she doesn't convince anyone at the Home of the mistake, she does convince the man who took her child into custody--Percy Vance. Together they set out to find Millie and set things right. They do this at great risks to their lives.
My thoughts: Suspenseful and action-packed, that's how I'd describe Liz Tolsma's The Pink Bonnet. Only two or three characters of this novel were real, almost all of them were fictional. This is important to keep in mind, in my opinion.
I have mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, it is so intense (perhaps to the point of being emotionally draining) that it is almost by necessity compelling. It kept me turning pages. On the other hand, the melodrama is high with this one. Is there such a thing as too much? Perhaps. Is the characterization of the villains realistic or pushed to extremes? I can't answer this. I don't know the specifics well enough. Is the romance natural or forced? I personally felt that it was a little much to make this historical drama into historical romance.
© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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