Customer Reviews

The Angels of Morgan Hill

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I loved it. I literally cried through the last 20 pages of this book. To say that it pulls at your heartstrings is truly an understatement. While reading this book, it made me think back on a time when things were like they were described in this story. A very sad time. This is a very fast read and very hard to put down once you start reading. I am looking forward to reading more books by Donna VanLiere =)

It's 1947 and the Turners (Willie Dean, his wife, Addy and their children, Milo and Rose) are the first black family to move to Morgan Hill. The Gables (Fran and her children, Jane and John) are kind, hard-working people who don't have much. Despite the disapproval of her friend, Margaret, Fran becomes friends with Addy Turner. Tragedy strikes and Fran makes a promise to Addy that she intends to keep no matter what Margaret and other narrow-minded, prejudiced people in town have to say about it. Difficult circumstances cause Fran to question her choice for a time, but she knows that although change isn't always easy, God and His angels are always around.
To have to read the words "nigger boy" numerous times was bothersome, but it wasn't unexpected. I'm just glad there were parts in the story that made me giggle. As a whole, The Angels of Morgan Hill was a good read, and the epilogue was touching.

I stumbled onto this book by accident, but once I started it, I couldn't put it down! I cried, laughed, and cried some more as I hurried to get to the next page. The racism of this era addressed in this story is truthful, and just as in that day, it was those who had nothing that gave the most. Not too heavy or too sappy, this is an excellent book, and I loved every page of it! I will read everything I can get by Donna VanLiere!

I had never read anything by this author and actually stumbled upon it by accident. Something about
the title caught my eye. I am so glad I picked it up. This story takes the reader back to a simplier time, though harder time. My grandparents lived in a small town that reminded me so much of Morgan Hill. Be warned it is a tear jerker but you also come away with a smile on your face wishing that towns, neigbors and families were still that caring and giving to one another.
Highly recommend and I will be finding other books by Donna VanLiere.

I picked up this book because of the word Angels in the title, knowing nothing about the author or her other works. After the opening paragraph, however, I was hooked.

Set in Tennessee during the 1950s, Jane Gable (the 9-year old narrator) tells the story of the day her daddy was buried and how she and her younger brother saw their first black family. Through humorous anecdotes of life in the South, we learn of the contempt of some for the 'colored' sharecroppers and how far these folks would go to get rid of them. When Milo (the young black child) loses his family in a fire, it is Jane's pregnant mother who takes him in as she tries to keep a deathbed promise to Milo's mother. Through trials and tribulation, Jane's mother stands firm in her resolve but it is Jane herself that pushes the town to action when she refuses to attend school because Milo isn't allowed into an all-white school. What happens after that is purely heartwrenching and heartwarming at the same time.

A captivating read that will have some reaching for the tissue box. This work deserves four and a half stars.

The Angels of Morgan Hill is a wonderful story concerning the will and determination of one lady to keep her promise regardless of what she has to deal with. It is a heart touching story regarding the lives of a white and colored family and the final fate of a little boy left alone coping with life under strange and trying circumstances. It will make you laugh and also cry, and you will feel like you are part of the story. I have purchased several of Donna VanLiere books, and I would recommend any of them. I look forward to reading any new ones she may write and publish.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have several of Donna VanLiere's books and books made into a DVD. They all have excellent content along with good upstanding moral values and concern for life. Hat's off to you Donna VanLiere. Strongly recommend. It's a good read (Hear). Donna does a great job reading the book and expressing the characters.

I got this book last year for Christmas. My mother and I sat up and I read it aloud on Christmas night. We would sit up very, very late reading this book. We both enjoyed it and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. Toward the end, I had a hard time reading it because i was crying so hard. This is a great story and I'm grateful for the time my mother and I spent reading it together.

There are many writers who are able to write a good story, which can be artful with an articulate voice, or put words masterfully on a page. Yet, Donna VanLiere reaches a new limit of magic with The Angels of Morgan Hill. She writes not from her heart but from her soul! Every book that I have read by Mrs. VanLiere teaches a meaningful lesson on life and opens doors to my own world of living.
The story begins in Morgan Hills, Tennessee in 1947. It's an all-white community in which nine year old Jane Gable's abusive alcoholic father is buried. She then sees her first African American boy named Milo. Mrs. VanLiere threads a tale of small town life, tragedy, hate, love, and change that quilts the human heart into a beautiful story. One of the most touching scenes in the story is between Addy and Fran. Addy tells Fran of a conversation that she had with her mother at the age of twelve while picking cotton. I said, mama, I'm tired.' And she hollered out. "Of course you's tired. We's all tired." But you ain't got no choice. You didn't pick this race...you was chosen for it, and there ain't nobody said it was gonna be easy. They'll be times when you'll be hot and tired and nearly dead, and nobody will offer you a cup of cold water...but some will, and they'll offer just enough to keep you's runnin'. They won't be a lot of peoples along the way, but they' ll be some and Yo Mama will always be one of them.'" How true Mrs. VanLiere, we each carry that cup of water and the choice of what we do with it. In Romans 12: 4-8 it states, "For as in one body we have many members. And not all the members have the same function so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another." Paul's concept of how we should live and work together is clearly exemplified in this story as Fran adopts Milo and just when Fran is tired, struggling, and lost, a small host of characters from Morgan Hill appear to offer that needed cup of water. Milo must make a choice: if he should live with his own kind or live with a white family. The choice that Henry made long ago to leave or stay at Morgan Hill and that special spot on Widow's Mountain where lives are changed and life is reexamined. The choice of each town member of Morgan Hill as the school year began with a colored child. Then the change in Aunt Dora ties and creates the binding of the quilt of Morgan Hill the outer binding that Mrs. VanLiere frames the story with.
I must admit, I finished this book in less than two days and with many boxes of tissues. Mrs. VanLiere has an amazing gift much like Paul. God gave him the ability to share effectively the gospel of Christ. Mrs. VanLiere is not an apostle or even an evangelist but God has blessed her with opportunity to write stories of the heart and of the soul. Stories that contain themes of human choice are ever so present. No matter what you look like, your faith or where you come from we each have a tiny part in this world of life. Maybe that is why her books are so compelling, natural and loving. I cannot state in words how highly I recommend this book but I do know that lives can be blessed and touched with a simple book and when an author shares a little bit of their passion and soul.

This folksy little confection is long on the sentiment and nostalgia, but is well written and thoughtful enough to be a stimulating read. In an Earl hamner-esque manner, the author manages to weave together homespun characters in an ultra Americana setting while infusing plenty of important issues, humorous dialogue and intelligent subtext.