In The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow: Christian fiction book review

    The whole world is coming to Chicago. Charlotte’s whole world is coming down around her.  While the rest of Chicago focuses on the enormous spectacle of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Charlotte Farrow’s attentions are entirely on one small boy-her boy-whom she has kept a secret from her wealthy employers for nearly a year.

    When the woman who has been caring for her son abruptly returns him to the opulent Banning home, Charlotte must decide whether to come clean and face dismissal or keep her secret while the Bannings decide the child’s fate. Can she face the truth of her past and open her heart to a future of her own? Or will life’s struggles determine her path?

    This compelling story of courage, strength, and tender romance captures the tension between the glittering wealthy class and the hardworking servants who made their lives comfortable.

    Olivia Newport is the author of The Pursuit of Lucy Banning. Her novels twist through time to discover where faith and passion meet. Her husband and two adult children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on their way into her books. She chases joy in stunning Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is.

    So often when we read a novel written about the 1800's, we only read about the "upper" class, when in fact there was a large group of people who made the lifestyle of the well-to-do possible.  The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow is different.  It gives us a look at what life may have been like for these servants.

    Charlotte is the heroine of Olivia Newport's newest book in the Avenue of Dreams Series, In The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow.  Ms. Newport has interestingly portrayed the problems of that invisible class, the household servants.  They were hired and fired at the whim of the butler, and often fired for little or no reason at all.  They worked long hours for little pay and had to live by the very restrictive rules of their employers.

    Charlotte Farrow came to the city of Chicago looking for a way to earn her living and provide for her newborn son.  She is helped by a young woman, Lucy Banning, who finds someone to care for her son, and a job for Charlotte in Miss Banning's parent's home.  This goes well until the caregiver is called to another city.  Whatever is Charlotte to do now?  The solution lies with Charlotte.  Can she give up her precious son for adoption, or does God have another solution for her problem? 

    Charlotte's courage emerges on a ride on the first Ferris wheel.  The inclusion of the situations the household help faced, the poverty of the average citizen, and the unfair labor and work rules that the workers had to live under and the descriptions of the Chicago World's Fair made this an interesting historical story.

    If you enjoy watching the PBS hit, Downton Abbey, I would recommend The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow to you, with a little history lesson besides.

    If your book club or reading group would like a reading group guide for this book, here you go!

Revell Publishing has provided me with one copy of this book in exchange for Joy In Our Journey's honest review.  No other compensation has been provided.

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