In the year 1912, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves home to teach school in the Smoky Mountains -- and comes to know and love the resilient people of the region, with their fierce pride, their dark superstitions, their terrible poverty, and their yearning for beauty and truth. But her faith will be severely challenged by trial and tragedy, by the needs and unique strengths of two remarkable young men, and by a heart torn between true love and unwavering devotion.
Our Thoughts...
This book sounded intriguing when I picked it up off the library bookshelf. Being very familiar with the Christy movies, I decided to read this slightly bigger read. I had vague memories of the stars and remembering how good this story really is. It is a novel about a young girl who tries to find out who she really is and what she stands for, while teaching in a poverty filled town. She learns a great number of lessons that help her mature and some very wise leaders who encourage her in her walk with Christ.
Christy, the main character, is a normal average young woman who makes a quick choice to teach in the Smoky mountains after hearing a heartfelt speech from a missionary who founded this organizatin. She goes to escape her boring life and be out on her own as an adult, but was spiritually weak and immature. I loved her character throughout the book, she was a tough lady who is so inspirational to other girls and who wanted to do what was best for everyone. She was open-minded and appreciated her leaders. She seemed to jump off of the page and come alive, she was just so easy to relate to. The book also consists of a love story, two men who help Christy along as the new schoolteacher. I remembered from the movie David Grantland who is the minister of the town church, young and caring. But as I discovered who David was like in the book, my thoughts changed. He was too arrogant and self-centered, almost becoming the antagonist at times. His faith was crumbling beneath his feet and sought out Christy to answer his big questions. He seemed to have been lead in the wrong direction, a path that he took probably because he had to. He came off too negative in the end for me to like him. Instead I was basically forced to look to the other man who loved Christy, Neill McNeill. He is the town's physician, and has a dark, hidden past. He's older and not as good looking as David but like Christy, you start to like him a little and respect his ways of thinking. He is probably the wisest leader who is patient and also extremely stubborn at times. These main characters just grow on you, their depth is amazing and they are not the kind of shallow heroines in todays teen reads.
The folks in the Smoky mountains that Christy becomes friends with have a stubborn way of thinking like their ancestors. Fights happen and the peope at first seem like monsters. But inside they have deep emotions and actually care, even though they don't like change. I loved the part when Christy becomes friends with one of the young ladies and discovers their meaning of beauty. They are content with what they have and seem to see things like nature different every day, as if they have just seen it for the first time. Their friendship is true and you can't help but cry about how they love everything that has been freely given to them.
I loved the spiritual aspect of the book, others commented that Catherine Marshall was at times, too preachy, but Christians love reading about big questions that the characters have and find answers to. Some of the questions are very alike to questions teens ask today, most about asking God why they are placed in difficult and crazy situations. This read has fresh insight too and you understand and appreciate what the characters go through in the text. They all have numerous flaws, but you admire them because they push through and try to choose the right way, something that we all want to do. I absolutely adored this read, there is also a copy in the school's library if you'd like to read this fantastic book and perhaps see the movie after!
-ShewolfLia17
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