Seasons Under Heaven (Seasons Series #1) [Paperback]

Beverly LaHaye (Author), Terri Blackstock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

What does a child's life-threatening illness cost the neighbors of Cedar Circle? What joys can be hidden in life's greatest tragedies? Behind brightly lit windows and on front porches, marriages are tested and mended, hearts broken, hopes resurrected, dreams released and reformed, values and futures shaped, and faith rekindled . . . or found for the first time. Taking the best and worst of human circumstances---the tender moments, the laughter, the tragedies, and the triumphs---Beverly LaHaye and Terri Blackstock weave from them a poignant, warmly human novel. Gently uncovering the inner struggles, stresses, and joys that surface among neighbors living on a quiet cul-de-sac, the authors show us the power of ordinary lives being knit into a strong, many-textured fabric of family and friendships.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Life in a quiet cul-de-sac called Cedar Circle is pleasant, if uneventful, for four diverse neighbors. Brenda Dodd is a happy career mom, homeschooling her children. Tory Sullivan, more overwhelmed by her role as mother, finds her children to be a challenge. Sylvia Bryan, meanwhile, suffers from empty nest syndrome, and Cathy Flaherty is raising her three children alone after a divorce. When Brenda's son Joseph is diagnosed with an enlarged heart, the women of Cedar Circle come together to cope with life's challenges and find strength through God. What could have been a melodramatic tale becomes instead a life-affirming look at personal struggle and commitment to a religious life. Though better known for her nonfiction works (e.g, The Act of Marriage, Zondervan, 1998), LaHaye teams with the reliable Blackstock (Shadow of Doubt, LJ 9/1/98) to deliver a fine novel of love, redemption, and Christian charity. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A tearjerker with strong female characterizations and believable mother-child relationships that is likely to be very popular." -- Booklist, May 1, 1999

"Blackstock, a novelist, and la Haye, the founder of Concerned Women for America, weave an engaging story that teaches women how to cope with such contemporary issues as sex education in public schools and the value of being a stay-at-home mother.

Characters are so well developed that it's easy to care about them and get drawn into their lives as though they lived next door. So settle in for a good read, but don't do so without a box of tissues nearby." -- Moody Magazine, July/August, 1999 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310235197
• ISBN-13: 978-0310235194
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the "Seasons Under Heaven" can be faced with God's help!, June 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Seasons Under Heaven (Seasons Series #1) (Hardcover)

Seasons Under Heaven was one of the best Christian novels I have ever read. It was so well written and it gripped my heart from the first page to the last. Seasons Under Heaven is the aptly named novel by Terri Blackstock and Beverly LaHaye.

4 families, who are close neighbors on the quiet, suburban cul-de-sac Cedar Circle, are each in their own way going through their own Seasons Under Heaven.

Tory Sullivan, want-to-be writer is the stay-at-home mother of two preschoolers who have definitely altered her ambitions and goals. Brittany and Spencer require a lot of time and effort, as all children do, and husband Barry wants the best for his children and happiness for Tory. Can Tory re-prioritize and still be happy?

Sylvia Bryan is trying to rediscover her purpose in life. The strong woman is feeling especially vulnerable and has a bad case of the empty nest syndrome since her children are grown and gone. Her husband, Harry, a prominent cardiac surgeon, is just the opposite. He has felt God's call to become a medical missionary. He's left it up to Sylvia to answer, though, and she's not sure what she could possibly have to offer.

Cathy Flaherty is a single mother who works outside the home and is trying to raise three children, one a rebellious teenager, on her own. The local school has gotten her attention and she feels the need to face the school board. Will she push her children away? Lonely, she would love to find someone to share her life with and become a positive influence in the lives of her children. How can she raise the kids, work, fight the school board and still be just "Cathy"?

The Sullivan, Bryan, and Flaherty problems all pale in comparison to the Dodds. Brenda and David Dodd seem to have such stability and happiness in their lives. The parents of four precious children, they devote their lives to them. Brenda homeschools all of them so she can give them the upbringing she feels they wouldn't get elsewhere. David is self-employed and works at home and assists her however he can. Although they are not "rich", their basic needs are met and they are happy. This all changes in a matter of moments, when one the children becomes gravely ill. How can they cope with the suffering of their son? How will they pay the bills? Brenda and the children are confident the Lord will provide for them, but can she keep encouraging herself and her son when her husband, due to traumatic childhood events, refuses to believe in the God Brenda so desperately loves and needs?

The families of Cedar Circle unite and share the burden of young Joseph's illness. Page after page is filled with the support and dedication to the Dodd's the other families have. They reach out in ways they never knew they could, and find out that from laughter to tears, from encouragement to fear, all the Seasons Under Heaven can be faced.

The novel contained one important truth that rang so loudly to me: Invest the best of your time and your love into your children and your family. Never take for granted the time you have with them.

The exciting plot was a page-turner from beginning to end. And it left a lot of room to expand on each and every character. A sequel would definitely wrap up some unanswered questions, and you can be sure that if one is written it will be the five star novel this one is.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 Very Different Families in Very Different Seasons of Life!, July 11, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: Seasons Under Heaven (Seasons Series #1) (Hardcover)

I decided to read this book simply because it introduces book two in the series which I was especially interested in! However, I became interested as I met the four families who live in an upper middle class cul-de-sac in eastern Tennessee. They are in various seasons in their lives.

The Dodds are a family with four children who are home-schooled and both parents stay and work at home full time. Although they seem to be the ideal, all American family, there are problems. She is a believer in God, he is not, due to emotional trauma he suffered as a child. At the heart of this book is the sudden illness of their 9 yr. old son. He ends up in the hospital awaiting a heart transplant and his Mom and Dad differ on how to best help him.

The Sullivans are a couple with two preschoolers in a family which consists of a hard working husband and a slim, fit, rather obsessive, frustrated writer-wife. She has read so many self-help books she is phobic. She keeps an impeccably clean house, but she hates her role as a stay at home, unfulfilled wife and mother. The last straw was when she SAW a bestseller book on the library shelf that contained the same plot as the book she was currently writing! In anger she destroyed her manuscript and declared she was finished with writing - forever.

The Flaherty family is headed by a single Mom who is a veterinarian. She has her hands full with three active, older kids, and a chip on her shoulder because she was dumped for a younger woman. Dating is completely awkward to her and she wonders if it is really worth it and feels like forgetting it. She has problems with the school's sex education classes and is willing to fight all the way to the school board. She is particularly upset with her inability to reach and control her 15 yr. old terribly rebellious daughter.

The Bryans are an older Christian couple whose children have all moved out. She is lonely and feels useless, he is a cardiac surgeon with a consuming call on his heart to missions. These two are a sort of surrogate Mom and Dad to the other couples in their area.

The book blends the lives of these four families in quite a remarkable way. While each family's life is intertwined and each has their own crises, the thing that pulls them together for a common purpose is the life threatening situation with 9 yr. old Joseph Dodd. Heart transplants aren't cheap, and even with insurance paying part of the bill, the Dodd family is staring at up to $35,000 out of pocket. They put their house up for sale. Not wanting to lose their good neighbors, the other families on the cul-de-sac work to raise the needed funds. This, along with the illness, changes their lives forever.

The saddest part of the book is when young Joseph goes into a coma just before he is given up for dead. No heart has been found, and he cannot last more that a few hours at the most. It is a dark, emotional and frightening night at the hospital. But, what eventually happens to the child is a surprise which makes the book worth the read. Changes occur in all the families, and decisions are cemented which will change their lives forever.

This is a contemporary, Christian fiction book about four families that could live in Any City, USA, and I recommend it highly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing contemporary Christian story, August 13, 2000

By 

Donna M. Grady (Middletown, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seasons Under Heaven (Seasons Series #1) (Hardcover)

I couldn't put this book down.This is the story of 4 women with very different lives who live in a cul-de-sac. The writing was so honest I felt like I knew these women. They all try to help when one of the children needs a heart transplant.This is not a sad or preachy book. It shows how faith works in peoples lives. I have also read their second book which I also highly recommend. I hope these authors are working on a third book.I'll be first in line to get it!