Wonderland Creek
Book By
Lynn Austin
Review by Janelle A. Spiers
October 17, 2014
“If my life were a book, no one would read it. People would
say it was too boring, too predictable.
A story told a million times. But
I was perfectly content with my life – that is, until the pages of my story
were ripped out before I had a chance to live happily ever after.” ~ Alice
Ripley, Chapter 1
“If I’ve learned anything at all from my time away, it’s
that you’ve got to take chances in life.
Jump in with both feet and do things you never dreamed of doing. We only get one life, and we’ve got to live
it to the full. Most of all, we’ve got
to love others to the full.” ~ Alice Ripley, Chapter 35
WARNING: Please be aware that if you continue reading
this Book Review, you may be subject to reading spoilers and or secrets of the
original book. However, all attempts
shall be made to hide the crucial points, in the event that this review
encourages you to read this book. Any
information divulged will be deemed by the author of this review necessary to
the review, or, not capable of ruining any major surprise.
Wonderland Creek is a novel written
by Lynn Austin about a young librarian named Alice Ripley, who adores
adventure; in her books, that is. When
Alice’s life is turned upside down, shook about, and then spun into a dangerous
plot, Alice must learn to conquer her fears of reality, or die a
maid-in-distress. Austin wove a
masterpiece together with the brilliant threads of loyalty, courage, humor, and
page-turning drama, creating plot and characters that will never be forgotten.
Wonderland Creek has several key themes
that make up the backbone of the entire story.
Embracing adventure, circumstances, and hardships turn out to be
difficult for many of the characters, but the theme of learning to accept a
situation fully and unconditionally proves to be stronger than any fearful
spirit. Courage and determination play
into that with full force and it is neat to see how Austin developed her
characters to face the problems more confidently. Trusting God for help,
protection, and strength is also a key theme in Wonderland Creek.
Alice
Grace Ripley lives in the city of Blue Island, Illinois during the Great
Depression and is deeply involved in the lives of all her fictitious characters
that live in the tall stack of books she has to read. Her easy life escalates to pandemonium when
her boyfriend breaks up with her and the library where she is employed has to
make cutbacks. With a shattered fragment
of her day-dreamy world, she travels with her aunt and uncle to Kentucky, to
deliver a few boxes of “hand-me-down” books to the local library. With her suitcase in hand, she arrives
planning to stay for two weeks, but the rural town has a few more secrets than
she anticipated. What started as a short
vacation quickly turned into much longer stay; Alice found herself flung into a
world of attempted murder, moonshine, family feuds, and danger. When she manages to get home, Alice realizes
that the world she knew was so simple in comparison.
Alice
Grace Ripley is a girl enthralled with her books, her job at the library, and
her books. She even loses her boyfriend
because he is tired of trying to reunite her with reality. But Alice’s weak grasp on the real world is
completely shattered when she is thrust into a plot as thick as her novels, and
with much fear, complaining, and horror, Alice is forced to regain her footing
in the world and keep her head above the rising water.
Leslie
MacDougal is the kind and tall librarian who works at the little library in
rural Kentucky. He has an extreme sense
of loyalty, but he allows guilt from his past to haunt him into desperation to
make things right. When he and Alice
must work together to succeed and survive, his brave heart, determined spirit,
and his playful sarcasm are put to the test.
In the eyes of Alice, Mac is the antagonist, the one in the way of her
returning home.
Lillie
is an old, former slave woman who takes care of Mac as much as he takes care of
her. She can be stubborn as a mule at
one moment and kind and loving at another.
Her firm faith in God and his care help her to survive the long journey
of slavery, and she becomes a second mother figure to Alice, even though the
younger woman is very unused to the older woman who is sharp all around her
soft heart.
The
writing quality of Wonderland Creek
is very pleasing. It is full of
descriptive vocabulary and words that are growing uncommon to use, but the
words are also understandable and comprehensible. Several of the characters have poor grammar
due to a lack of formal education but Austin wrote it in such a way that is
intelligible and clear.
Lynn
Austin received a Christy Award for Wonderland
Creek when it was published in 2011.
Austin lives in Chicago with her family and continues to write as a full
time novelist. She has published a
number of books ranging over a wide variety of subjects and has won eight
Christy Awards and holds the title as winning the most Christy Awards.
Like
all of Austin’s work, Wonderland Creek
has a decidedly Christian worldview.
Faith, trust, and hope are continuous focal points that the characters
seek to retain. Prayer is a common
occurrence and Easter is celebrated at a church.
There
is not much language to speak of at all in this book. One of the women mention the word, hell, as a
place name, and the word swear comes
up a few times as an oath taken to guarantee the truth. Romantically, this book is very mild. Nothing obscene or inappropriate ever happens
between the characters, but the main character does kiss or let a man kiss her
rather frequently. However, when he
suggests that they go into a room alone to kiss more freely she declines. There is some mention of illegal moonshine
stills that the countryside people would die defending. Also, Mac is given moonshine to ease the pain
of a wound, but it is generally looked down upon.
The
crucial turning point of the story is that Mac is shot in the chest by an
unknown shooter. There is description of
the wound but it is relatively mild. A
funereal is held at the beginning of the book and another later on, and the death
of a character’s husband is a reoccurring topic. There is also insinuation that the sheriff or
government officials staged an accident, but it was in reality a murder.
The
plot, characters, and quality of writing are very thought-through, well
orchestrated, and consistent all the way to the end of the book. The plot is mysterious and adventurous and
resolves nicely after the climax, tying up all the loose ends. The characters are well developed and are
very human in nature, and the quality of writing is perfectly fitting to the
style, era, and genre of the book.
Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin is a
charming and humorous book, but it is also filled with intrigue and
suspense. The characters will surprise
you, the story will make you smile, and the heart-warming conclusion will leave
you wanting for more. Wonderland Creek is an excellent read.
(Based on a rating system entirely made up of pros
and cons, I judge by different categories to ensure that the reader of this
review can aptly choose if this book is an appropriate for themselves or
others.)
Theme ~ Positive! (For excellent
topics that are meaningful and applicable to life.)
Plot Line ~ Positive! (The story is
planned and executed well.)
Characters ~ Positive! (Very
memorable and extremely consistent)
Writing Quality ~ Positive! (For
thoroughness and comprehensibility)
Mature Content ~ Positive! (Any mature
subject is covered mildly and not graphically.)
Congruency ~ Positive! (For extreme
consistency in plot, characters, and quality)
The total score for Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin is 6 out of 6 possible points.
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