We Hope for Better Things

by Erin Bartels
Scott County Library paperback 392 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

This was our February book club title, but I didn't get a copy of it until the night of the discussion! I wish I'd gotten it earlier - I love this book! I marked lots of pages, but will start with some of my character notes.

Elizabeth Balsam - journalist, Detroit, modern day, also Lapeer house, sister Grace (a doctor, much older), parents are missionaries in the Amazon, meets Mr. Rich (James) and his son Linden (pro NFL)

Nora Balsam - Eleanor, Elizabeth's dad's aunt, Detroit 1963, then Lapeer County house, married William Rich, quilted, sewed, grew up privileged, had a falling out with her parents, Tyrese (not William) mows her lawn

Mary Balsam - Nora's great-grandmother, Lapeer County, 1860s, married to Nathaniel, abolitionists, made Crazy Quilt (and others), died 1875, had Bridget as her serving girl, wrote letters, George, three sons and a daughter . . .

Page 91 - When Nora says she would never use the N-word, William says, "Don't matter if you'd never say it. It's what's in your heart that matters." I love his direct way of challenging her preconceived notions about herself and her attitudes throughout the book.

Page 131 - When Mary is describing the reason behind Independence Day and explaining the Revolutionary War, young Angelica asks "That the war going right now?"
"Mary shook her head. 'No, child. This was almost one hundred years ago. It was a different war.'
'Don't seem different.'
'Quiet, girl.' Martha said. 'You get outside and let me and Mrs. Balsam get to work.'"
Out of the mouths of babes! A war for liberty and the right to be in control of your own life . . . Revolutionary or Civil or both?

Page 227 - I love that George answers "You know this cannot be anything more than it is" when Mary confesses her love to him. I have to admit, this part of the story was the hardest to accept. I just can't picture this relationship at this point in history. Propriety was such a huge part of most people's expectations. George behaved much better than Mary, for the most part!

Page 301- When Nora interviewed her very elderly relative Margaret in the 1960s, she thanks her for the visit and the stories. Margaret replies with ". . . I do like talking. When you're busy living life, everything's a blur. It's not until you get to be my age and you've got nothing more to do than think that you start to see it for what it was." I love the idea of contemplation and slowing down.

Page 335 - Nora's return to her childhood home when she returns to Detroit, looking for William in the aftermath of the Detroit riots. "As much as she had told herself that William was all the family she needed now, that he was enough, he wasn't. She wanted the love of her parents too." This whole paragraph spoke to me about the value of close family relationships. I strongly dislike brokenness in families. (Though I also disliked how Nora's family spoke and acted.)

Page 338 - I love when William's mom cries out to God! "Hear us as we cry out to you. We know you know where our Will is right this moment. We know you see him, that you're looking at him even now. We're trying to trust you with him, but it's hard. We're trying to leave him in your hands, but it's so hard to do. Lord, bring him back to us. Bring him back even today, even this very hour. Hear our prayer as you heard your own Son's voice as he cried out to you on the cross. Amen."

Page 371 - When Elizabeth remarks on the difference between the huge Baptist church where she goes with Nora and the "simple hut" her parents were worshiping in in the Amazon, "What a strange and wonderful family we were all part of." Amen!

Page 376 - The trunk, the letters, the mice . . . not the ending I would have picked. But I like this observation: "Aunt Nora had been wrong when she said that history was written by the victors, for the victors in one generation may turn out to be the villains of the next. And the only way to get closer to the truth was to refuse to quit searching for it. All it took to lose one's history was a single generation that didn't take the time to learn it and pass it on."

I look forward to reading Bartels' next book. This was her first.