Take a Chance On A Love So True

A Love so True by Melissa Jagears is a welcome addition to the Teaville Moral Society collection.  In Southeast Kansas, circa 1908, a young man named David Kingsman arrived at A.K. Glass factory by his father.  Always ready to turn a profit, David's father wanted him to get that factory ready to sell. Instead, David fired two "key" employees who Loafed on the job and settled in to make necessary changes to the factory.  Hoping to impress a difficult to please father, David sees potential in the business that may prove it worthwhile for the family business to invest in this factory and the city.

Evelyn Wisely is a young woman dedicated to the orphans in Teaville.   Children  of the local soiled doves lived in the orphanage started by Lydia and Nicholas Lowe.  Housed in a mansion Nicholas built, the children thrive under Evelyn's care with the help of her parents, .....not content to house only these orphans, she visits other children on Saturdays to give them a much needed warm lunch to eat with a meaningful bible story.  She was determined to feed their souls along with their bodies.  It never seemed enough, however, to serve these children.  She wanted to serve their mothers by helping them improve their lives by leaving the dreaded profession of prostitution.

It takes one person to convince another to make a change in society.  Caring for the unloved and getting others to see them as God's creation is no small feat. The perseverance and dedication to bring these unloved women and children out of such a deplorable lifestyle was an amazing fight that I don't know I possess.  While this is fiction, the implications of the impact on those who did fight to make changes for the desperate women who were plunged low to a life of prostitution and alcohol were phenomenal.  The children who were left in the wake of that lifestyle were left to fend for themselves.  This is a difficult topic and Melissa Jagears engaged this reader's awareness in the midst of a wonderful novel.

Evelyn and David develop a high regard for one another as the book tackles obstacles they must each overcome in order to be free to fall in love. There is so much more inside the pages of this book than a simple love story. I recommend this book with warmth for your summer reading pleasure.