On Sparrow Hill by Maureen Lang

Wow.

On Sparrow Hill, the sequel to The Oak Leaves left me quite speechless. I felt that God had me read this book at this time in my life for a certain reason. The main message that I recieved from this book was having the heart of a servant; like Jesus. This was a most important reminder to me right now as I struggle with sleepless nights with a teething baby! It reminded me of all that God has done for me and I will think of having a heart as a servant more in my life as a parent.

On to the book...

On Sparrow Hill was a great followup to The Oak Leaves. It continues the saga of the Fragile X SYndrome that plagues families...I was excited to read this story to find out more about Berrie.

It was really interesting to read more about how disabilities were handled so long ago. I also thought that the romance in this book was great. It held a greater part of the story.

The story goes back and forth between Berrie Hamilton and Rebecca SEabrooke.

Berrie lives in a manor where she deals with "feebleminded" children and allows them to live in the manor and teach them tp be functional in the world. This would have been a very liberal way of thinking during this time; when children with disabilities were thought of as "idiots".

Rebecca is managing Quentin's family estate, which serves as a place of tours to allow further education of history. Rebecca uncovers letters Berrie has written to Cosima. She begins reading them and Quentin at this time recieves an email from Dana (from Oak Leaves) who plans to visit the estate to learn more about the journal that she has from Cosima. Dana and Quentin are cousins; both descendants of Cosima. It was uncovered in family journals in The Oak Leaves that the family members are carriers of Fragile X Syndrome. So when Dana finds out that she is pregnant, she becomes very nervous. Unsure how she will handle a child with disabilities.
The stress and nervousness of giving birth to a child with disabilities are unleashed in this novel in a way I have never seen presented. It is done in a realistic unjudgemental way.

It was interesting how the struggles that Rebecca and Berrie were facing were so simliar even though they lived in worlds 150 years apart.

I really enjoyed this story and the depth that was involved. There was a ton going on in the story and I don't know where to go with this review because there is so much that could be said. There was mystery, love, emotion...just so much to offer in all of the characters. I really enjoyed this book a great deal and would definitley recommend it as well as the prequel The Oak Leaves.

This book taught me a valueable lesson. I just cannot believe how awesome the timing was for me to be reminded to have the heart of a servant.