Customer Reviews

A Light to My Path (Refiner's Fire, Book 3)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It can be a common occurrance for people to think that God has deserted them in times of need, or to blame God for their station in life. Lynn Austin's A LIGHT TO MY PATH, the latest of her books about the Antebellum South, examines this while detailing the coming of age of two young slaves, Anna and Grady, who have given up hope that "Massa Jesus" hears their prayers or cares what becomes of them.

Anna's first memory is the day her parents were recaptured after an attempted escape from slavery. Since that day, she has had little faith that God could do anything to help her situation. While she was spared from death or the auction block, Anna's life is, nevertheless, one of biting criticism, harsh servitude, and endless longing. A glimmer of hope for something better comes along when she meets Grady.

Grady hates all white people after experiencing a tortuous auction where he was torn from his mother's care and later a stint as the assistant of a slave trader. Grady's stark reality leads him to believe that all white people are evil and that the only way to progress in life is to exact his revenge upon them someday. Once a ladies' man, Grady is stunned by Anna's beauty and he begins to change his ways. But Anna and Grady come in contact with numerous obstacles, including the Civil War. They must put their trust in God's plan in order to victoriously emerge from the battles.

A LIGHT TO MY PATH is historical Christian fiction at its finest, spanning time periods from Antebellum America into Reconstruction. The story never became dull, nor did it ever read like a sermon. Lynn Austin introduced all of her characters, both primary and secondary, and followed them through until the end, each lending a significant voice and contribution to this heartbreaking and divine saga. I was impressed with this book and hope to go back through the series and read all of the earlier installments. (RAW Rating: 4.5)

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

In A LIGHT TO MY PATH, the stand-alone follow-up to CANDLE IN THE DARKNESS and FIRE IN THE NIGHT in the "Refiner's Fire" series, Lynn Austin weaves themes of forgiveness, racial reconciliation, love, and faith together to create a compelling story of lives changed by God during the Civil War.

Austin switches points of view between two slaves: Anna, or "Kitty" as she is dubbed, a young girl who grows up as a companion to Missy Claire, and Grady, a young light-skinned slave torn from his parents at an early age. Both characters, living in the second half of the 19th century, respond to their slavery differently.

Lacking knowledge of any other way to live, Kitty, who was too young to remember her parents' deaths at the hands of slavetrackers, numbly accepts her mistreatment at the Fuller Plantation in South Carolina as her lot in life, loyal to the mistress who looks at her as no better than an animal. Kitty's desire to be loved is endearing, and her artistic bent adds an interesting component to her personality. The kindling of her anger over her slavery and her desire for freedom comes about only when the ones she loves are threatened.

Her opposite is Grady, a well-developed character who simmers with rage and yearns for freedom throughout the novel. Readers will resonate with Grady's anger as they see the desperate plight of slaves separated from their families, mistreated by slave traders, and sold into grinding work on southern plantations or into New Orleans brothels. It all helps build a believable case for Grady's rage against all white people, which eventually culminates in murder. Grady's love/hate relationship with music, his casual flirtations, and his fear of truly loving anyone again, lest they be taken away from him, are just a few of the ways Austin fully fleshes him out as a believable character.

One of the more dynamic figures in the story is the aging mammy Delia, whose strong faith will endear her to readers. As events in the South careen into chaos, Delia tells Kitty, "I don't waste time worrying. I pray," then adds, "Praying ain't about getting your own way. It's about asking God to have his way." Delia believes that "...the Lord is in charge." Everything that happens to Kitty, Grady, and herself is part of His divine plan. "I do know that we can trust the Lord, even when we don't understand why things happen the way we do," she says. Her belief in a God who is in control and her ability to forgive becomes even more intriguing as her past gradually unfolds to Grady and Kitty.

Of all of the characters, the most disappointing is Missy, the belligerent, spoiled mistress who owns Kitty, and who comes off as a bit flat and one-dimensional. It would be nice to see her more fully developed, as her childish tirades sometimes seem over the top, especially after Kitty has her baby. Even a glimmer of occasional kindness would have added authenticity to her character.

A LIGHT TO MY PATH is Austin's twelfth novel, and her experience in fiction shows through her careful attention to detail, vivid backdrops, and smooth dialogue between the characters. The pacing occasionally slows, especially toward the end, and one wishes the book were shorter by about 50 pages. The final scene between Grady and his father is particularly difficult to believe. Yet the plotline and characters are strong enough to keep the reader continuing to the end of the story. Fans of historical fiction with strong faith themes should find this enjoyable tale much to their liking.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby (phrelanzer@aol.com)

This is a most compelling story of slavery in South Carolina from 1849 through the Civil War. There are two main characters, Grady and Anne, born into slavery on two different plantations and how their lives cross and then interwine. It is a vivid depictions of the treatment and attitudes of the plantation owners toward their "property" and the resulting behavior and attitudes of the slaves to their owners. By following the lives of these two children through to their adulthood, the utter fear, the disgust and the extreme choices, are made very real. The one consoling factor for the slaves is their faith in God. Grady is willing to take chances to gain his freedom but Anne, "Kitty" will grovel before her mistress to retain her position as a house slave. Though Grady marries Anne in the traditional manner for slaves, he refuses to allow Anne to cower before the threats of their mistress or to be treated in a demeaning manner. When Grady has the chance to run away to join the Union Army and gain his freedom, Anne is given a choice. Paralyzed by her fear of the unknown, Anne remains at the plantation believing she will not face hardships or whippings. When threats of her baby being rip way from her, Anne stands up to her mistress and faces the horror of the penalty of her insubordination. The Union Army Troop to which Grady belongs is making a sweep of all plantations to release all the slaves. Grady finds Anne, rescues her and their son, William. Anne understands what Grady had felt all long about the inhumane treatment slaves had to endure and gladly joins her husband on the path to freedom and a path of faith.

Book 3 of the Refiner's Fire series follows the story of Grady Fletcher, a character of which we see a shadow of in the first book, "Candle in the Darkness." By a cruel twist of fate, Grady was sold when he was a young boy to a cruel owner...by his own father.

On the other side, we have the story of Anna, or "Kitty," a house slave who always follows orders from her mistress "Missy," a spoiled brat of a girl who has never given Kitty anything back. Then she meets Grady Fletcher and falls in love with him.

This book was slightly disappointing, in my eyes, because it didn't live up to the book before it, "Fire by Night." Instead, it falls back into the same flaws that "Candle in the Darkness" had. Actually, I rather enjoyed hearing Grady's and Kitty's stories, but the character of Missy was so putrid and such a cement block in the path of a smooth story that it was almost difficult to read. I read the entire book thinking that, at the end, Missy would finally straighten out...but she didn't. What bothered me most about that was the fact that it stays right in line with what seems to be Ms. Austin's theory of Southern Belles: they were all brats who treated their slaves like animals and never, ever, spoke a kind word in their servants' direction. Anyone who has researched the Antebellum South knows that theory is completely incorrect. Yes, I'm sure there were women like Missy, and her character wouldn't have bothered me so much if it didn't seem to be a copy of some of the Southern women in "Candle in the Darkness." In fact, it doesn't seem as if any Southern ladies Lynn Austin writes about have any redeeming qualities with the exception of Caroline Fletcher in book 1.

Besides that one flaw, the book was rather enjoyable. I hope to see more from this author.

In 1862 South Carolina, Confederate soldiers warn Missy Claire that 6000 Yanks are marching towards her Plantation and arming slaves. Missy is angry and panicking as she orders her slaves but talks down to them as if they are cattle or pets, which is how she sees them. Field slave Grady informs house slave Kitty that he plans to run away and would like her, the woman he loves, to come with him to freedom. Kitty hesitates as she has lost the ability to make decisions having spent her life having her massahs tell her what to do.

As Kitty struggles whether to run off with Grady or stay with Missy, she reflects back to the early 1850s when she as a child met her young mistress. Kitty, called Anna, back then, had some kittens that Missy wanted, but her mother said no that anything owned by a darkie is diseased. So Missy tells her mom that she wants the darkie as her kitty. Since then Kitty has always done whatever her owner tells her to do, but now with war everywhere can Anna be resurrected from the dead?

This deep look at the lives of slaves and to a lesser degree their owners in the decade just before and during the Civil War is an insightful historical tale. Readers will be stunned by the incredible characterizations inside of a world turned upside down for so many people. The story line rotates between Anna-Kitty and Grady, but fans observe how others in their circle read. Fans of the Antebellum South will want to read the latest Refiner's Fire tale as Lyn Austin hits on all cylinders with a fantastic novel.

Harriet Klausner

It took me a while to get into this book in the beginning because I hate reading how a slave is being torn away from his family and being sbused by his owner. It got better as I kept reading when the story start to show some hope for the slaves. It's amazing to see how ignorant America was back then and how we still are today!

As the third and final book of the series Lynn Austin takes you through the hardships of slavery from the slaves' point of view. You instantly fall in love with sweet little Anna and feel for her as Kitty. Grady endures so much at the hands of the evil racist men he encounters and you can't help but want to rescue him from his life. I can imagine that any of these stories could have been true occurances in the lives of slaves who lived this history. Ms. Austin does an amazing job of developing the charecters and relationships between them all and leaves you just enough detail in the end to know that the story continues beyond the last page. I actually checked these books out from the library and had no trouble with returning them in the two weeks because I couldn't put them down! I really enjoyed reading this series and am kinda sad that it's finished. I'm going to try Wings of Refuge next.

I was completely transported back in time. The details were so real. This book took my emotions from one extreme to another.

The book is about Grady and the heroine Anna (Kitty). I did not like so much the heroine in the book at the beginning until almost the end of the story, because I like my heroines to be strong willed and mature in actions they take.
From childhood the heroine learned not to have a mind of her own. She was easily controlled by her misses. It was not her fault that she had grown to be the way she was. By looking at the circumstances, the writer has painted the picture very well. The heroine was a survivor. She did everything in her power to survive even things that were degrading. She had never had a role model to teach her otherwise. Also, the love was pouring from her.
So I grew to love the heroine and was nicely surprised by the end of the story. The heroine grew strong and began to believe in herself.

The book has shown how people have been degraded. The slaves were handled worse than animals. The situations have been described so well, that I put myself in their shoes and felt their sufferings and pains. There were times that I had to control the tears in my eyes and tried to swallow the lump in my throat that was forming in different parts of the story.
However, the book did not flow: I put away reading for two days and was able to stop without regret to pick up other tasks. I love when the writer keeps me engaged from beginning to the end, and I can hardly keep away from my read.
Forsooth, the story was beautifully written and has shown well humankind and faith.

A Light to my Path is the final book in Lynn Austin's Refiner's Fire series. It can be read as a stand-alone novel, but for full enjoyment I recommend reading Candle in the Darkness and Fire by Night first.

This is an extremely well-written story of two slaves before, during and right after the Civil War. Anna, AKA "Kitty," loses her enslaved parents as a small child, as they attempt to run away from their captivity at the Fuller Plantation. The Fullers' daughter, Missy Claire, finds Kitty amusing and takes her into the house to be her personal slave. Claire is a mean-hearted, spoiled child who sees Kitty as nothing more than a piece of property. From the beginning she treats Kitty in a harsh manner. Kitty is starved for love and security. She does everything possible to try to please Claire as they both grow up.

Grady is the light-skinned product of a white master coupling with a slave. He is not acknowledged in any way by his father, but the man's wife is aware of what transpired and she insists that Grady be taken from his mother and sold. Grady becomes the property of a cruel slave trader. He lives under constant threat of violence, and learns to hate all white people. He is finally "won" in a poker game by Master Fuller, and comes to the plantation to live. Although Mr. Fuller treats him very kindly, Grady simmers with hatred. He thinks only of escape. His life becomes complicated when he and Kitty fall in love.

Both Kitty and Grady have given up on God. They feel God cares only about white people. Grady lives on hatred, while Kitty clings to her "Missy" for security. When Grady finally has the opportunity to run away and join the Union soldiers, Kitty is too insecure and fearful to go with him. After he's gone, Kitty finds herself to be pregnant with his child. It isn't until her baby is threatened that Kitty is able to overcome her fear and stand up to Missy Claire.

I won't reveal any more of the plot, but the story line is full of action and angst. The characterization is excellent as both Kitty and Grady struggle with their situations and attitudes toward God. You will certainly care about these characters. The ending is satisfying, and you'll be glad you read the book (and hopefully the whole trilogy). I heartily recommend it.