Faces Of Courage: Intimate Portraits Of Women On The Edge

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Val De Grace (October 14, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0984884988

Overview:

Mark Tuschman is a man on a quest. For the past decade, he has journeyed across much of the developing world documenting the travails and triumphs of women living in very difficult circumstances. On a daily basis, millions of these women face crippling poverty, sexual violence, serious health problems for themselves and their children, and often a total denial of even their most basic human rights. 

In this extraordinary photo expose, Tuschman documents it all, along with the efforts by many international organizations, aid groups, and doctors and nurses to help these women and girls cope, heal, stand up for themselves and become all they can be. This is reality in the raw, but as Tuschman shows us, these women have an almost unbelievable strength and resilience, and theirs are faces of incomparable dignity and courage. 
The book comes with endorsements from major figures in the world of women’s health and human rights.

My thoughts:

Look deeply into the photo above and now read its description:

- In the rural Pali district of Rajasthan, India, where child marriage is widely practiced, American photographer Mark Tuschman is at the home of young Kala, a child bride. Elegantly dressed for her portrait in a red sari, she looks into the lens of Tuschman’s camera with great dignity. Kala was married when she was three months old so that her family could avoid the payment of a dowry. She is now 13 and in seventh grade. She is still living with her parents, but will soon go to her husband’s home where she will be deprived of the rest of her childhood, trapped in a cycle of poverty that will include years of household labor and childrearing and very possibly, domestic abuse.-

Let me first say upfront I have yet to read this (newly released) compilation of what too many women face everyday in our world but it immediately grabbed my interest! 

Marc Tuschman was unknown to me when I spotted the cover of his book and the related article (see HERE) but I immediately sensed this is a man who through the lenses of his camera brings us stories of unparalleled dimension. 

There you will find the many faces of hunger, deprivation, despair, faces that reminds us the viewers of child marriages leading too often to teen pregnancy, dowry abuse and domestic violence including rape, human trafficking and prostitution to name only a few...

Editorial reviews tells us it would appear the most remarkable of Tuschman's achievement is that it also reflect the hope each and everyone of these women hold deep into their heart...

I recommend you purchase, beg or borrow this one as I will!!

"Faces of Courage is a photo essay of staggering importance. Tuschman has traveled the world to bring back portraits of girls and women struggling against great odds to make something of their lives. His riveting photos open up a window into the hearts and souls of women and girls fighting violence, poor health, oppression, and lack of opportunity. This book will become a part of you and will encourage you in your efforts to make a difference in the world."
 
- Ruth W. Messinger
President of the American Jewish World Service


About the Author:

For nearly a decade, Tuschman, a veteran freelance photographer of over 35 years, traveled to seventeen countries—India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, and Indonesia in Asia; Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi in Africa; and Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador and Trinidad in Latin America. 

Note to Readers: I would count this book as an excellent gift idea for the Holidays and NO I was not asked to mention this book by anyone!

Mist Of Midnight by Sandra Byrd, Book review

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• Series: The Daughters of Hampshire
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Howard Books (March 10, 2015)
• ISBN-13: 978-1476717869
• Also available in KINDLE format

SYNOPSIS:


In the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.

Rebecca Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to see her...and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca's name, but her home and incomes. 

That pretender died within months of her arrival; the servant fled to London as the young woman was hastily buried at midnight. The locals believe that perhaps she, Rebecca, is the real imposter. Her home and her father's investments reverted to a distant relative, the darkly charming Captain Luke Whitfield, who quickly took over. Against her best intentions, Rebecca begins to fall in love with Luke, but she is forced to question his motives—does he love her or does he just want Headbourne House? If Luke is simply after the property, as everyone suspects, will she suffer a similar fate as the first “Rebecca”? 

A captivating Gothic love story set against a backdrop of intrigue and danger, Mist of Midnight will leave you breathless.

Link to Mist of Midnight on the Simon and Schuster/Howard Books Website:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Mist-of-Midnight/Sandra-Byrd/The-Daughters-of-Hampshire/9781476717869

My thoughts:

From the first chapter Sandra Byrd grasps your attention with a mysterious plot set in Victorian England. Mist of Midnight is everything you seek in a good historical romance novel! Entertaining, intriguing and filled with details about life in the Nineteen Century. But it is her main protagonist which pulls at your heart with her stoic approach to a disturbing welcome upon her arrival on English soil. Rebecca is a survivor of the Indian mutiny and thought to find a refuge in a land she barely remembers.

Upon learning an impostor arrived with her Indian maid the previous year claiming to be her, Rebecca straightens her back, lifts her head and forges ahead. Someone must remember her gentle mother or perhaps herself as a child when she last visited Headbourne House and vouch for her character? 

Whilst thoroughly confused but determined to find out what happened to the deceased impostor, said to have been hastily buried, Rebecca finds herself strangely attracted to Captain Whitfield, now in residence in her childhood home.

Find out for yourself later this month what happens to Rebecca and her claim!
Good suspense, intelligent plot and with just the right amount of historical details to make it a pleasant read!

4 stars!

Meet the Author:

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published more than forty books.
A life-long lover of Victorian Gothic romances, Sandra’s new series, Daughters of Hampshire, weaves elements of that mystical, traditional genre with inspirational and literary threads. Mist of Midnight, the series’ first book, debuts in March, 2015.

For more information visit her website (HERE)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ARC courtesy of CBA as part of the book promotion. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC 16 CFR, Part 255 'Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising. I was not asked to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are entirely my own. 

John, Eternal Love by Dr. Brian Simmons, Book review

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• Series: Passion Translation
• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Broadstreet Publishing Group LLC (October 1, 2014)
• ISBN-13: 978-1424549580
• Also available in KINDLE format

SYNOPSIS:

Encounter the Heart of God! The Word is not just dead letters; it is the Living Expression of God, Jesus Christ. The Word came with skin on as the Perfect Man and the living manifestation of the glory of God. 

The Gospel of John is all about this beautiful Christ and believing! This book reveals that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, the Savior, the King, the true Anointed One, the Living Bread, and the Loving Shepherd. Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us the history of Christ, but John writes to unveil the mystery of Christ. Here, Jesus is seen as the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd, the Kind Forgiver, the Tender Healer, the Compassionate Intercessor, and the Great I Am. 

Who can resist this Man when He tugs on hearts to come to Him? To read the gospel of John is to encounter Jesus.


My thoughts:

This is a book to discover Folks. It is a very simple fact for me to point out that John's Gospel is all about believing of course but you already know that. 
With the New Testament comes the message that He came, He died for us on the Cross, rose on the third day and saved us. Christ: a healer and compassionate man who loves us sinners. 

Always a fascinating writer, Brian Simmons introduces us to John, Eternal Love and explains how the first four books are biographies portraying the four main aspects of the ministry of the Man from Nazareth.

This translation brings yet another dimension to understanding the truth about the Gospel, the life and miracles which highlighted Jesus' life on earth. And miracles are everywhere in John's Gospel! If the other three gospels are truly historical, his unveils the mystery of Jesus, the Shepherd.
Best of all, Dr. Simmons' translation of the original text tells us how he perceives Jesus' gathering His disciples and how each event of His life lead in fact to His love for us. 

It will not come as a surprise I am certain if I tell you this is once again a great addition to any one's library and certainly any church's. 

5 Stars!


Meet the Author:

After a dramatic conversion to Christ in 1971 Brian answered the call of God to leave everything behind and become a missionary to the tribes. Taking his wife and three children to the jungle of Central America they pioneered church plants for many years with the Kuna people group. 

More (HERE)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book courtesy of ICON MEDIA GROUP as part of the series promotion. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC 16 CFR, Part 255 'Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising. I was not asked to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are entirely my own. 

The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff, Book review

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (August 26, 2014)
• ISBN-13: 978-0778315964
• Also available in KINDLE format

SYNOPSIS:

A stirring novel of first love in a time of war and the unbearable choices that could tear sisters apart, from the celebrated author of The Kommandant's Girl 

Life is a constant struggle for the eighteen-year-old Nowak twins as they raise their three younger siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbor against neighbor. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn't be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day. 

Then Helena discovers an American paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam—a Jew—but Helena's concern for the American grows into something much deeper. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all—and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades. 

My thoughts:

Pam Jenoff's name has been added to my (ever growing) list of preferred authors with her literary contribution in Grand Central: Original Stories of Post War Love and Reunion. 

This latest title brought once more what I like best in any author's work: sensitivity, historical facts, entertainment and most of all the feeling I have met a kindred spirit. 

I tend to like a WW 2 plot but I look for the hope such difficult moments in life highlights behind the tale (Do you ever wonder what you would do in such circumstances?) and as she has proven in the past Jenoff is a very good storyteller. 

The Winter Guest has all the necessary elements for a story to be remembered long after the last page has been turned, the sort you like to advise a loved one or a good friend to try for themselves in fact. 

Clearly written with elegance and much empathy, here is a story about the many facets of love and the difficulties many dealt with during the second World War. Her characters are finely defined and you have the satisfaction to see a well resolved ending (I do not like those endings that leaves you hanging!).

5 Stars!


Meet the Author:

Pam Jenoff is the author of several novels, including The Kommandant's Girl, which received widespread acclaim, earned her a nomination for the Quill Awards and became an international bestseller. 
She previously served as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe, as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a practicing attorney at a large firm and in-house. 
She received her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, her masters degree in history from Cambridge University and her bachelors degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. 
In addition to writing, she teaches law school.

For more information visit her website (HERE)

Note: This was a library loan and any opinion is mine only!