An Ocean Away
By Lisa Harris
Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
Lizzie MacTavis is devoted to southern Africa, where she lives with native people along the Zambezi River. Hippos, man-eating lions and tribal unrest are not enough to break her devotion for the land and people. But when Andrew Styles shows up with news of her aunt’s sickness and inheritance in New York, she finds herself conflicted about what is the right things to do.
Ms. Harris lives in Africa with her family, serving as missionaries and you can tell from this story. The scenes in Africa do not feel contrived, but realistic and well thought out. The low level mystery and thrill parts added into this story keep you intrigued. She does an excellent job of painting a confident heroine in Africa, while the same young woman would be out of place in New York City. The author ties in the culture of the roaring twenties in New York, with the simple life of a young woman raised in Africa, cooking over fires.
I really enjoyed reading this story! I had sort of a hiccup when I began it. I had checked it out from the library and when I got to page 59, discovered over 50 pages missing. Both of the copies the library owned were that way and they said the publisher was not replacing them. I struggled to believe that as in my dealings with publishers, a mistake like that would be quickly remedied. In contacting Ms. Harris, she graciously looked into the matter and sent me a complete copy! I so appreciated it! She also replaced the library copy!
This was an excellent story with adventure, deep thoughts on hurt and loss, as well as slight mystery wound in! I highly recommend it!
See below for the link to her website to check out her other books as well!
So glad you were finally able to read ALL of the book! :-) And I’m thrilled you enjoyed it as well. Happy reading, Lisa