A Gown of Spanish Lace [Paperback]

Janette Oke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

A heritage so very different from her own, but one profound connection -

Ariana loves her life her parents, her little town, her job as the town's schoolteacher, her students. But one evening after classes are done and she prepares to hurry home before a blizzard hits, her whole life changes in an instant.

The two rough-looking men who abduct her and take her far from home and family make no response to her frantic questions "Why me? What are you going to do? Where are you taking me?" Held hostage in a camp of bandits, Ariana's emotions swing between terror and boredom as days stretch into weeks.

And then the boss's son appears in the doorway of her cabin. Does this mean she will never see her mother and father again, the two who had so lovingly adopted her as an infant and raised her as their own? Will she ever wear the wedding dress so carefully saved for her her one link with her birth parents, now long dead?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Using a plot that owes much to Zane Grey, who himself owed a great deal to Walter Scott, Oke places a young schoolmarm, Ariana Benson, in harm's way and then joins her with the man she loves. Ariana is kidnapped and held for ransom by a band of outlaws--turns out though, that the boss' son, Laramie Lawrence, has a conscience and even an incipient faith. He steals Ariana from the outlaws, and on a long trek to Montana, the two fall in love. Laramie becomes a Christian, but a missing cuff on Ariana's inherited wedding gown shows up in Laramie's long-dead mother's trunk, linking the two as brother and sister, separated years before when Indians massacred their parents. Tough break, but further research reveals that they are not related, and so the marriage can proceed. Oke is the grande dame of Christian fiction, and her latest is likely to join The Bluebird and the Sparrow , her previous work, on the evangelical Christian best-seller list. John Mort --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Janette Oke pioneered inspirational fiction and is the leading author in the category today. Love Comes Softly, Janette's first novel, has sold over 1 million copies. Janette is now the best selling author of over 40 books, 32 of which have been translated into fourteen languages. Janette receives fan mail from all over the world and answers each letter personally She received the 1992 President's Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for her significant contribution to Christian fiction, and has been awarded the coveted Gold Medallion Award for fiction. Janette and her husband, Edward, have four grown children and nine grandchildren and make their home in Canada. size : 4.2 x 7.0

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Product Details

• Paperback: 285 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Pub (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764220179
• ISBN-13: 978-0764220173
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,600,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good western historical adventure., December 11, 2004

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Gown of Spanish Lace-(Janette Oke Classics for Girls) (Hardcover)

Sixteen-year-old Ariana Benson loves her new job as the schoolteacher in her small frontier town. But her whole life changes one snowy day when she is kidnapped by two outlaws and taken back to their hidden camp, where she is held as a prisoner. Her guard is Laramie, the son of the outlaws' leader. But Laramie is not like the other outlaws. He finds himself struggling with his duties as Ariana's guard, and knows in his heart it is not right to hold an innocent young woman prisoner. And Ariana finds herself strangely trusting him. Laramie comes up with a daring plan to help her escape, even though it means separating himself from his father forever. But will the plan work?

This was a decent historical western adventure, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other book I read by this author. This was mainly due to the ending of the book. Toward the end of the book, the author threw in a plot device that seemed to be there in order to place one more obstacle in the path of the characters so that the book would be a bit longer. I still enjoyed this book overall, I just wish the ending had been less contrived. I would recommend this book to fans of the author, but new readers looking to try a Janette Oke book would be better off reading a different one instead.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the single best book by Janette Oke, June 26, 2000

By 

Bonnie McKinzie (Garden Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Gown of Spanish Lace (Paperback)

Although Oke wrote a suburb series in Love Comes Softly, her breakout into smaller series and one book stories no doubt was the springboard for this awesome book.

It is part of the Women of the West single book stories, and I believe, the best. The storyline was conceived forty years earlier by the author, but for some reason she didn't explain, it never made it to print until 1995.

Ariana was an orphan, adopted by loving parents and the one and only link she had to her biological parents was her wedding dress. However, all her hopes of being married in this dress, and teaching plans were changed during her horrible, violent kidnapping by two rowdy men.

While she was held hostage in a camp controlled by bandits, her faith and trust were severely tested. She had to hold fast to God and her trust that He would control her destiny even when it seemed the rowdy outlaws were in charge of her life and future.

The exciting (and surprising) conclusion to this book makes it among the top of the bunch. I plan to read it again and again. Thank you, Janette Oke, for finally putting this story in print!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of my favorite jannete oke's!!, December 13, 2003

By 

brooke "brooke" - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Gown of Spanish Lace (Women of the West #11) (Paperback)

This was a great book. I LITERALLY COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!! Anyway, Ariana Benson is a sweet and beautiful little school teacher. She was adopted by a minister, for her parent's were killed in an indian raid on the wagon train. Meanwhile, Laramie Russel is a handsome young man who doesn't fit in with the gang of desperadoes he lives with. He was also adopted; his parents were killed in an indian raid to. Well, Laramie's father, "the boss," is upset with his son because he has never killed anyone, which is a shame to the life of a desparadoe. See, Laramie is the best gunman, but he doesn't shoot to kill. The Boss decides that a woman is the only way to get Laramie to kill, so he kidnaps Ariana, and orders Laramie to be her prison guard. Well, over time, Laramie discovers a Bible and begins to read it. He realizes how wrong his life in the gang is, and decides to escape, and take Ariana home. Throught the ordeal, the two fall in love, but later on, discover a secret that threatens to tear them apart. Can the ending hold a happiness for them?? READ AND ENJOY!!