The Promised Land - (The Swan House) by Elizabeth Musser (Paperback)

This book is a complete masterpiece! So profound, truly relatable and realistic, with deep and compelling characters, and a beautiful message that shakes you to the core! This is Abbie Bartholomew Jowett’s story, along with his son Bobby’s story and Caro’s, a young woman that connects to them through her brother Stephen. The novel is told by these three different points of view and that made the story all the more interesting, and the thing holding them together in this journey is the Camino pilgrimage in France. Abbie, after 20 years of marriage, has reached a life shaking crisis. It seems the people she loves most, her family, are leaving her as an escape to her controlling ways. Her son Bobby leaves to Europe for a gap year, her son Jason is away at boarding school and playing for a football team, and her husband Bill has just announced he’s leaving because he needs a break from her manipulating ways. Abbie is in shock: always giving herself to keep her men safe and now she has lost them. Maybe she’s loosing herself too. But when Bobby tells her he’s going to make the Camino pilgrimage, to do an assignment for his boss at the newspaper where he works, joined by beautiful iranian refugee friend he has just met, she decides she will go along with them, to chaperone. But what she doesn’t know is that she’s about to start the journey that will change her life inside out. Caroline Lefort is still grieving her lost best friend from almost a decade ago, and has been carrying a heavy guilt, since the day she was kidnapped, and her mother was brutally killed, and she wasn’t there to prevent it. She drowned her pain in alcohol and has been spiritually lost ever since. But now, it’s been awhile since she left rehab and has been sober, working as a photographer journalist and engaged to a nice man. But the ghosts of Lola’s disappearance still haunt her, as well as the man who still holds a grip to her heart, and was with her the day she disappeared. She won’t rest until she can find Lola or know what became of her. Fortunately, her brother Stephen, who is Bobby’s boss, asks her to do the Camino pilgrimage as well and get pictures for an article about the famous journey. Little she knows, this adventure will also be a life changing journey to self discovery, along with Abbie, Bobby and Rasa, with whom she’ll bond a special friendship, all connected in an unforgettable journey that will make them question the purpose of their life, their relationship to God, and help them free of their fears and invisible chains that keep them from flying and being the best version of themselves that God wants them to be. And to learn to let go, to forgive and start anew. This was a magnificent story that truly captivated me. I felt so related in different ways to the characters: Abby’s need of control, Bobby and Rasa carrying other’s burdens, Caro’s guilt and need of self forgiveness. And all of them needing to listen to God’s voice and Will. I vividly recommend this book to anyone. It will inspire in more ways than one. Through their journey you will discover many things that you may need to change or let go to. It’s freeing to let go: of control, of fears, of burdens that don’t belong to us to carry. And to let God help us carry our load! It’s very insightful and enlightening!

This is a book to be savored. It is not a light, easy read. As Abbie, Bobby, Rasa, and Caro make their self-discoveries along the Camino, I found myself being confronted with aspects from my own life. Abbie's reading of the Psalms of Ascent and her gut-wrenching honest prayers touched something in me and made Jesus even more real. I highly recommend The Promised Land, especially for those who like books with spiritual depth. I received a complimentary copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

"Life is beautiful, life is surprising, life hurts. And our job as artists, for as long as we're present in this life, is to use our gift to show the beauty and the surprises and the joy and the pain to others." I am floored by this book. I have not read any of Elizabeth Musser's books before but she has now gained a faithful follower. This heart-wrenching tale brings back some beloved characters from the author's previous books The Swan House, The Dwelling Place, and The Long Highway Home but it can be read as a stand-alone without having read the others. I was thoroughly engrossed in Abbie, Bobby, and Caro's stories from the first chapter and didn't feel left out or confused because I didn't know them before starting out on this journey. Told from first person present tense narrative, this book is indeed a compelling and captivating journey of "loss and love, faith and fellowship, pain and perseverance, and a handful of miracles along the way." Abbie, Bobby, and Caro are all deeply-layered and complex souls, each carting a truckload of perceived responsibilities, regrets, pain and all seeking peace. There is a bit of mystery involved in Caro's story as she attempts to reconcile her best friend's disappearance. There is such heartache and hope in the plight of the refugees seen through Bobby's eyes and magnificence of God's creation and God Himself seen through Abbie's heart. Abbie's walk, discovery, and realizations felt like my own; I haven't felt this connected to a fictional character in a very long time. You'll cry tears of heartbreak, frustration, anger, repentance, and acceptance as you travel the Camino with these three unique and unforgettable characters. This book is a must-read if you enjoy well-written contemporary women's fiction that makes your heart and soul think. I received a copy of the book from Bethany House Publishing and was under no obligation to post a positive review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.