The Face of Heaven
Read The Face of Heaven Online
Authors: Murray Pura
Tags: #Amish & Mennonite, #Christian, #Historical, #Fiction
Murray Pura’s first Harvest House novel
The Wings of Morning
stole the heart of reviewers…
From Romantic Times…
“Pura has created one of the finest stories of Amish fiction I have ever read. The WWI-era Amish religious practices engage the reader, as does the dramatic love story…The reader will be applauding the exceptional writing, and the cast of characters demands an encore performance.”
From Publishers Weekly….
“Pura has penned a meaty story dealing with complex issues as the impact of WWI and the Spanish influenza epidemic affect a Lapp Amish community in Lancaster, Pa., during 1917–1919…Pura, who has been a pastor and author in Canada for more than 25 years, masterfully balances depictions of simple Amish living with the harm that can be caused when religious ideology overrides compassion and understanding…Pura’s nearness to historical and Amish accuracies makes for a plausible and intriguing tale. Pura’s previous works have been shortlisted for several literary awards; this entry into historical fiction is noteworthy as well.”
From Eugene H. Peterson,
Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C., and author of more than 30 books, including his Gold Medallion Book Award winner
The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language
…
“Murray Pura’s novel of an Amish community facing an unprecedented world war is accurate and winsome. But his portrayal of the two main characters, young people of integrity and maturity, is absolutely riveting. A book to be relished by any age, from young readers to their elders.”
From Connie Cavanaugh,
author of
Following God One Yes at a Time…
“Murray Pura’s first foray into Amish fiction does not disappoint. As a novelist of some distinction, Pura has already established himself in other genres, and his ability to tell a great story is as evident in this book as in his others. Pura weaves romance as well as spiritual depth into a challenging plot that will keep readers turning pages and leave them sweetly satisfied when all is said and done.”
From Christian Manifesto reviewer Rachel Ropper…
“…I completely fell in love with Murray Pura’s take on the Amish during the First World War.
The Wings of Morning
wasn’t simply an attempt to break out of the typical mould of Amish romances by sticking the story in front of the backdrop of WWI. Murray’s writing showed that he’d researched not only military camps and bases, the treatment of conscientious objectors and the role that aeroplanes played in WWI, but the actual flying of these planes…I never thought I’d enjoy reading flight sequences but Jude and Lyyndaya’s descriptions of their experiences surprised me and made me think about what it would have been like to fly in one of the open-cockpit planes that were flown in this period…Murray Pura shows the beginnings of being a popular voice in inspirational fiction and I look forward to reading more emotionally stirring and well-researched depictions of history in the next volume in his
Snapshots in History
series.”
From
Amazon.com
Hall of Fame reviewer Harriet Klausner…
“This excellent fresh WWI era Amish thriller provides wonderful unique perspective of the community at a time when aeroplanes and electricity are so new they have not been banned yet; even Bishop Zook demands a flight. The seemingly star-crossed romance between the shunned hero and the woman he cherishes enhances a great period piece that will have readers wanting more historical tales like this winner from Murray Pura.”
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
The Scripture quotation on page 8 is from The Bible in Basic English version.
Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota
Cover photos © Chris Garborg; iStockphoto/Taylorhutchens, WilliamSherman, Jpecha
THE FACE OF HEAVEN
Copyright © 2012 by Murray Pura
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pura, Murray
The face of heaven / Murray Pura.
p. cm.— (Snapshots in history ; bk. 2)
ISBN 978-0-7369-4949-1 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-4951-4 (eBook)
1. Married people—Fiction. 2. Amish—Fiction. 3. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9199.4.P87F33 2012
813'.6—dc23
2012002226
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Contents
For Lyyndae Levy Pura, RN, BN, graduate of Dalhousie University School of Nursing, 1983, and for all the nurses of America, Canada, and the world, whose skill, dedication, and compassion have saved millions of lives.
And for the men of the Iron Brigade.
L
IBERTAS SUPRA OMNIA
I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of slavery.
T
HOMAS
J
EFFERSON
This is not a history of the American Civil War. Nor is it a history of one of the Union Army’s most famous units in that conflict, the Iron Brigade, or of the 19th Indiana, one of several illustrious regiments that made up that brigade. It is instead a story of a young man and a young woman who sought love and God and forgiveness in the midst of America’s greatest trial and its greatest tragedy.
But in answer he said to them,
At nightfall you say, The weather will be good, for the sky is red. And in the morning, The weather will be bad today, for the sky is red and angry.