Book review: The Pilgrim by Joy Margetts

I received a free copy of The Pilgrim from the publisher, Instant Apostle. My loyal readers may remember that I have posted enthusiastically about Joy Margetts two earlier books, The Healing and The Beloved. The first thing I noticed about it was that it is a little thicker than The Healing. I as pleased about that as there was more to enjoy! (The Healing has 223 pages and The Pilgrim has 270.)

I read The Pilgrim from cover to cover the day I received it. It was light reading with a hopeful message suitable for convalescents. (I was recovering from a sore throat.) I was keen to find out what was going to happen in the book. There is rather a lot! It could be a book to return to.

The Pilgrim Will a pilgrim’s path be his saving grace? is the prequel to The Healing. Readers of The Healing enjoyed the wisdom of one of the supporting characters. In The Pilgrim we have a chance to find out more about how his character was formed. As he makes his pilgrimage from Abbey Cwmhir to the Island of the Saints, he learns about his fellow pilgrims and begins to understand himself and his faith better. Each pilgrim has his/her own story with its hopes and fears. The loose ends are tied up nicely as we are led towards the beginning of The Healing.

Although I read these books in the order they were written, it wouldn’t matter which order they were read in. Each stands alone.

There are relevant quotes from the Psalms between the chapters. These include verses from penitential psalms, other psalms reflecting the mood of the main character with the final upbeat Psalm being the Passion translation of Psalm 103.

The sketch map of the route is helpful. And there are horses!

Signed paperback copies of The Pilgrim may be bought from Joy Margetts’ website. It will be available in Paperback and for Kindle from 22nd July 2022.

Joy Margetts

Joy Margetts is a regular contributor to the online magazine, Mom’s Favorite Reads. A story about two of the characters from The Pilgrim appeared in the July edition on page 77. If you read it before The Pilgrim you will know more of the background. If (as I did) you read it afterwards, it is an interesting story.

Her blog is listed on Bible Gateway’s Blogger Grid.

This post is part of a blog tour. The participants are listed below. Links will be updated as the posts are published.

The Pilgrim Blog Tour
WENDY H JONES	wendyhjones-bookaholic.blogspot.com	12 July
RUTH LEIGH	ruthleighwrites.co.uk/book-reviews	13 July	INTERVIEW
SUSAN SANDERSON	suestrifles.wordpress.com	14 July
MARESSA MORTIMER	vicarioushome.com	15 July
VAL PENNY	valpenny.com/blog	16 July
SHARON RICKETTS	limitless-horizon.com	18 July
SHEILA ROBINSON	scskillman.com	19 July
JOY MARGETTS	joymargetts.com	20 July
ROB SEABROOK	robseabrook.com	21 July
PENELOPE SWITHINBANK	penelopeswithinbank.com/blog	23 July	INTERVIEW

Book review: The Wounds of Time by SL Russell

The Wounds of Time is a stand-alone novel with a protagonist, Janet Clarke, first encountered in The Thorn of Truth by SL Russell. That second stand-alone novel is about a minor character from The Healing Knife which I reviewed here.. The earlier two books were published by Hodder, whereas The Wounds of Time is a KDP edition from Highstowe Books.

I read a paperback copy, which I bought, rather than a Kindle e-book.

The Wounds of Time is set in 2017 with events of that year featuring strongly. It opens during Storm Doris. The book is well-written and well-researched. The story is gripping. I read it over a weekend. It contains much wisdom about relationships at work and in the family and reflects problems of the time. It is a story of redemption and reconciliation. For personal reasons I preferred the earlier books in the series and other books I have read by the same author. I know others have hailed this as SL Russell’s best book yet. It is her 9th novel.

There was a blog tour in March 2022 for The Wounds of Time allowing people to learn more about the book and the author. Participants (all members of the Association of Christian Writers like the author and myself) are listed below in no particular order.

Maressa Mortimer

Wendy H. Jones

Penelope Swithinbank interviewed SL Russell about her faith.

Liz Carter also interviewed SL Russell

CF Dunn

Deborah Jenkins

SC Skillman

Ruth Leigh interviewed SL Russell

Paul Trembling

I have read and reviewed two earlier books by SL Russell – A Shed in a Cucumber Field and A Vision of Locusts.

Two more books I read in January 2021

The two novels I am reviewing here, Peter Abelard by Helen Waddell and the diary of Isabella M Smugge by Ruth Leigh, are opposites in many ways. Both are physical books. One is an old historical novel and the other a pre-publication copy of a contemporary novel.

Peter Abelard was a book I inherited. I had not read it before. In fact, I vaguely remember choosing it off the shelf as a teenager and being told, ‘You don’t want to read that. Try this one instead.’ The replacement book may have been The Tiger in the Smoke reviewed here.

There is no character list for Peter Abelard, although I suspect that had it been published now rather than in 1933 (the edition I read was reprinted in 1950) such a list might well have been provided. The reader is rather thrown into the story at the deep end. It is set in France in the 12^th century. There are some very vivid descriptions, while other things are only hinted at. The Christian beliefs of the time are very important in the story. There are quotations from earlier scholars including Augustine and Origen. The book is well-researched. There are phrases from familiar passages in the Bible, notably Psalm 139. Beliefs about morality at that time were very different from those of the present day. It is not a light read due to the language and the scholarly content, which includes quotes in old French and Latin. These are mostly translated afterwards, but the reader has to recognise or infer this. I found it very interesting.

I first met Isabella M Smugge (pronounced like Bruges) in a blog post in 2020. The novel in which she is the main character is being published by Instant Apostle later this month. (February 2021).

I received a copy through the post from the author, Ruth Leigh. I read it almost immediately, finishing it the day after I received it. It made me laugh, but there are serious issues addressed amidst the humour. The hashtags were fun, especially the oxymoron #planningforspontaneity. It ended with a lot of loose ends. I’ll have to be patient waiting for the sequel to this debut novel.

Readers, who enjoy books by Anna Bell, Sophie Kinsella and/or Stephanie Butland will probably like the diary of Isabella M Smugge.

Ruth Leigh has written a blog post about how she came to write a novel.

My other book reviews may be found here and here.