Did I mention how much I LOVED Harvest of Rubies? It's written in first person which is generally not my favorite narrative point-of-view. However, it works so very well in this book. Sarah has such deep and complete personal development that the first person POV actually makes the book better than the third person POV alternative would have. Sarah's remarkable development was also a little awe-inspiring to me from both a reader's standpoint and a wanna-be writer's standpoint. I found myself thinking, How does anyone come up with something so good? I loved the transitions and the circumstances that brought her from frumpy, isolated, self-sufficient scribe to intelligent, secure, God-dependent woman.
As a lover of many forms of literature, I found myself admiring the beauty of Afshar's prose. It takes time, dedication and talent to put out prose like that! The beauty of the wording enhances the setting and plot tremendously. I will admit, this time around, it took a little longer for the story to "hook" me. I attribute this to having previously read it once before. However, my point is that the story did eventually captivate me in spite of already knowing the basic flow of the story and the ending.
Okay, enough gushing over this book. Obviously, after a year of anticipation, I am eager to read and review Harvest of Gold. If you're like me and can't wait to get a taste of Harvest of Gold, Tessa Afshar has the first three chapters available for free on her blog.
