A Willing Heart, by Mary Andersen

  

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Setting

1683
Bristol, England
Oxford, Maryland Province (Colonial America)

Synopsis

Amidst unbearable injustice, can she find the will to love and forgive?

Sarah Matthews has lost everything she holds dear, and fears further tragedy is to come if she remains at her childhood home near Bristol, England. Will her reckless decision to flee in the dead of night end up destroying any shred of hope she has left, and put her in even greater danger? 

Maryland planter, John Clark, has no need for a female servant. Yet when he sees a disheveled young woman, trying so hard to be brave, there is no denying his desire to help her. Buying Sarah's indenture is one thing. Impulsively forcing her into marriage the same day is quite another...

My Thoughts

I don't feel it would be appropriate to review my own novel, but I would like to explain my reasoning for including some of its content.  Some might be disturbed by the focus on, or inclusion of, the fallout of a woman being raped.  My take on this is that these things do happen, and I think that addressing this issue is important.  It is my wish that this story will inspire and give hope to people who have experienced difficult things.  Most of us will never be attacked in such a heinous way, but we all have times in our lives when we feel great discouragement and pain.  This story is a reminder to me that we all have within us the innate ability to rise above the trials that test our faith and fortitude.  I hope that following Sarah's journey will give my readers a renewed appreciation for the power of forgiveness and love.  

Edgy Content

1) Romance scenes are quite descriptive, though not explicit, with plenty of emotion sure to get your heart racing. 

2) Off camera rape, and subsequent reservation toward intimacy.

3) The selling of European immigrants into servitude might bother some, but it was the backbone of the economy of the southern colonies for quite a few years, until the practice was largely replaced by slavery. 

4) Sarah was forced to marry and then consummate that marriage with a stranger, the very day she met him.  In many "marriage of convenience" stories, the authors allow a respectable time period for the characters to get to know each other and to fall in love before the marriage is consummated.  This book does not. I think it is realistic for the time period in which the story is set, as I don't believe that, in the 1600s, men would have always given women time to adjust to their new situation, but might have instead simply expected obedience.