2024 is the eighth year that I’ve kept a file on my top ten Christian reads for the year. You can follow my reviews on Goodreads or BookBub. Sadly I felt that only nine books were worthy of being mentioned. I hope for more good books next year.

I continued to read quite a few Biblical-era fiction authors because this is the genre of the series I am currently writing (and will be for some years).

1. River of Life by Carol Ashby

This was my favourite book of the year. Carol’s books have been in my top ten every year since I discovered them. I love historical books in which I can experience the era (Roman empire post-Christ in this case). It is also fantastic to read books that show you days when to follow Christ could mean your death.

Blurb:

When the future you dreamed of looks impossible, maybe God has a better one planned.

Driven from home because of her Christian faith, Neferu lands a position tutoring Jason, her childhood friend’s young son. Jason’s father despises him and banishes both the boy and Neferu to his ancestral estate, where Jason becomes the target of a family member who wants Jason’s inheritance for her own boys. How can a mere servant thwart her mistress before her young charge is killed? Knowing what she does, is her life at risk as well?

When Lusario’s new master, Caelus Martinus, decided they would train together to work as architects, Lusario’s once-bleak future seemed bright. But if they don’t get a commission within a month to design a building, both will lose the future they long for.

During their trip up the Nile to compete for a building contract, disaster strikes, forcing Neferu to rescue Lusario and Caelus from certain death. As the threat to Neferu and Jason grows, both men would do anything to protect her and the boy. Might death await them all if they fail?

2. In Truth and Love by Jenny Glazebrook

This series is a multi-author effort where the characters are all connected with Trinity Lakes (a made up town in the US). I am not much of a romance reader but wanted to support Aussie/Kiwi authors (as most of the authors are).

My review:

Excellent writing (I didn’t even find a proofing error, which is rare), a realistic story, and a strong Christian novel.
I am not a romance reader but I made an exception for this book. It was wonderful to see a story which was consistently Christian and by that I mean, a story where the characters tried to follow Jesus’ model in how they lived. I loved that it looked at the issue of how to speak the truth in love – and grappled with the complexities of that.
Chapter 12 was my favourite in the book and I cried good tears. Tears that show that this book grabbed me in the emotions.

Blurb:

Jodie Ladan is tired of goodbyes. People have come and gone her whole life, and she refuses to be left behind again. It’s time to take control, move to New York, and live out her dream of being a journalist. She’s already been accepted into NYU and her plans are coming together.
Brandon Taylor’s life is unravelling before his eyes. His mother is dying, he’s seriously hurt a friend, and to add insult to injury, a distant relative is trying to have his father’s house demolished.
Can anything else go wrong? Or can God use what others have meant for harm, for good?
Brandon and Jodie discover that when they speak the truth in love, God gives them every weapon they need to demolish the strongholds of the enemy.
Trinity Lakes is about to witness a battle for truth that only God can win.

3. The Struggle for Courage in the days of Jezebel by Marilyn T Parker

I continue to read as many Biblical-era novels as I can since this is the genre I am writing in and will likely be writing in for many years to come.

My review:

4.5 stars
An excellent and plausible novel of Ahab and Jezebel and Obadiah, trying to honour God in evil times.

Blurb:

A weak king. A ruthless queen. A man who must make an impossible choice to protect the woman he loves.

Obadiah, the governor of King Ahab’s palace, has been secretly sheltering dozens of Israel’s prophets from Jezebel, who has already slaughtered hundreds in her murderous wrath. With his friends and the love of his life, Anna, Obadiah has risked his life to bring food and water to the cave where the prophets evade the queen’s fury.

Obadiah has planned to marry Anna since he fell in love with the precocious little girl feeding him mudpies, but as Jezebel’s bloodlust grows, Obadiah’s fears for Anna’s safety intensify. When he’s forced to make an impossible decision, the consequences are more devastating than he could have imagined.

When an unthinkable tragedy strikes Anna’s family, she is bereft, feeling abandoned by the one person she thought she could trust—Obadiah. Now, with her life in greater peril than ever, Anna faces a choice of her own, one that will test her strength and courage like never before.

4. Building Benjamin by Barbara M. Britton

There are some stories in the Bible that are very unusual. This is based on the story in Judges where Benjamites are denied wives by the other tribes and so they kidnap some. What must that have been like for those kidnapped?

Blurb:

Love Grows Where God Grafts the Tender Shoot. Naomi desires to dance well enough to catch the eye of a wealthy landowner. Her father needs a substantial bride price due to the deaths of her brothers at the hands of the tribe of Benjamin. But when Benjamites raid the Ephraimite feast and capture young girls, Naomi is bound and carried from her home by Eliab, a troubled shepherd who needs a wife. As Naomi awaits rescue, she finds Eliab has a strong faith in God and a just reason for abducting her. A reason that affects all the tribes of Israel. The future of the tribe of Benjamin hangs in the balance, but if Naomi follows her heart and stays with Eliab to rebuild his lineage, she must forfeit her family and become a traitor to her own tribe.

5. Heart in the Clouds by Jennifer Mistmorgan

This and the next book at both WW2 novels – an era from which I have read many, many books.

I am not much of a romance reader but love WW2. The author caught the feel of that era well.
A romance with a bit of mystery.
Loved the Christian elements although they took quite a while to show and I would have preferred that the main female character was clearer in these aspects.

Blurb:

AF Bottesford, November 1942: Maggie Morrison joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force for a free ticket into the romance she craved, away from her sleepy life as a vicar’s daughter. But the men of Bomber Command are careless with the hearts of women. She hides the pain of her broken heart and mother’s sudden death behind calm confidence on the airfield radio, as the last voice men hear before they fly into danger.
Australian pilot Alec Thomas is a gambling man on a winning streak. Every night when he flies with RAF Bomber Command, the odds of surviving are fifty-fifty. And every night so far, he’s made it back to English soil. But as the battles over Europe intensify, Alec’s luck feels less certain. When Alec bets with his crew he can get Maggie to kiss him before the year is out, he has no idea it’s the most important wager he’ll ever make. But pursuing her leads Alec to reexamine everything he believes about his so-called luck, prompting him to question what-or who-is behind it all. Even if Alec can win his bet, can his risk-taking ways win her heart? Or will his luck in the brutal air war over Europe run out before their first kiss?

6. The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin

Another WW2 story and if you like this author you’re likely to enjoy Jennifer Mistmorgan’s books as well. I found this one in my local public library and take the opportunity to remind you that you can request an author’s books for your libraries. You usually need the title/author/ISBN (found on its Amazon listing). I love it when my books are requested in ebook, print, audio (my contemporary series) or Large Print (also my contemporary series – Grace in Strange Disguise …).

My review:

4.5 stars
Excellent story, interesting history, strong faith elements.

Blurb:

When the Germans march into Denmark, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt exchanges his nobility for anonymity, assuming a new identity so he can secretly row messages for the Danish Resistance across the waters to Sweden.

American physicist Dr. Else Jensen refuses to leave Copenhagen and abandon her research–her life’s dream. While printing resistance newspapers, she hears stories of the movement’s legendary Havmand–the merman–and wonders if the mysterious and silent shipyard worker living in the same boardinghouse has something to hide.

When the Occupation cracks down on the Danes, these two passionate people will discover if there is more power in speech . . . or in silence. Bestselling author of more than a dozen WWII novels, Sarah Sundin offers pens another story of ordinary people responding to extraordinary circumstances with faith, fortitude, and hope for a brighter future.

7. Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. Hunt

Blurb:

With secrets dating back two generations, will Wisteria House unite or destroy an already-fractured family?

Shrouded in scandal and secrets, Arilee Rutledge’s family is as tangled as the thorns surrounding their unwelcoming antebellum mansion. When her brother Davis returns from the Great War, she hopes they will make a new start after a season of devastation. But Davis is haunted by their younger brother’s death and his wife’s committal to the state asylum; while he loses himself in his work, Arilee continues raising his children. Determined to control at least one area of their lives, the siblings hire a former acquaintance to restore their dilapidated home.

Thrown from a carefree boyhood into the horrors of trench warfare, Adam Harrison is broken yet matured by his experiences. He takes a job updating and repairing Wisteria House, not only to pay his way through medical school, but in hopes of winning the woman he has long admired. A startling discovery plunges them all into a series of events revealing dark mysteries and shaking their already-uncertain future.

Can the thorns of grief, pain, and regret ever be cleared from their troubled hearts?

My review: Excellent title and cover. Hard to put down with plenty of substance and Christian content. Realistic and encouraging. My first of this author’s books and unlikely to be the last.

8. Eric Liddel: Pure Gold by David McCasland

This is one of the books that is sold in Chinese in my organisation’s bookshop. I was delighted to find an English version and now I can more highly recommend the Chinese versions.

Blurb:

Eric Liddell inspired the classic movie Chariots of Fire. But he was much more than the Olympic champion who ran for the gold at the Paris Olympics in 1924. Liddell dedicated his life to God’s service on the mission field and died in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. By his example, Eric Liddell sounds a clarion call for Christians of all ages: Our worth is not measured by worldly accolades but by serving and following Christ. Therein lies the true triumph of life, worth far more than all the Olympic gold medals in the world (Congressman Jim Ryun, 3-time Olympian and former world record holder). You too will be challenged and inspired by this fascinating biography of a man who ran life’s race for God.

I gave this a 5-star review and wrote: An excellent biography of this well-known story. I loved the greater detail of his service in China and his family.

9. Weapons of Peace: The Story of William & Johanna Anderson

Blurb:

Set in South Africa in the period 1800-1852, Weapons of Peace is based on the lives of early missionaries William & Johanna Anderson. It is a thrilling story of adventure, trial, romance, tragedy and faith.

I gave this a 5-star rating. It was great to read a biography about an area I’m less familiar with. This one really is obscure and not easy perhaps to find.

My own writing in 2024

In 2023, I launched a new genre (historical, Biblical-era), and I have just published the fourth book in the series. The series is called Light of Nations and looks at how outsiders of God’s covenant with Israel came to know and follow Him. Initially, this series was six books, and then nine, but now I have ideas for twelve or even fifteen. The reason for multiples of three in my series is that it makes it easier to do collections of three books each.

The series is based on the verse from Isaiah 49: 6b (ESV):

I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

I will likely only publish one novel every 12 months as I work full-time apart from writing and am caring for family needs.

Subscribers to ‘storytellerfriends‘ will receive regular updates and those who enjoy having input into titles, covers, and praying regularly for this book ministries can join the Facebook group.

Blurb for Bronze and Brokenness:

Master at mending copper. Failure at mending family.
Reuel’s family have been traveling coppersmiths for generations, but it’s not enough. His Israelite customers don’t respect any Midianite, and his father only takes pride in what his older brother does. When Israel’s power wanes and Midianite raids shift who’s on top, all that could change. Has the time come when a second son can outshine his older brother?
Jael married Reuel with dreams of a home filled with love and respect, but her marriage has become as dry as the drought-plagued land they live in. Jael has followed her husband in rejecting all gods but is what she has all she’ll ever have? Why does her blind sister, Zura, find such hope in the God of Israel?
All are broken, but can they, like bronze, be recast?

Where can you buy Bronze and Brokenness?

My first choice would be that you buy it directly from my online PayHip store. This store uses PayPal or Stripe (Visa or Mastercard) to process your payments and has a general SAVE10% coupon that can be applied at checkout. You can also leave reviews directly on my store. I’d love it if you copied reviews you’ve written elsewhere and pasted them on my store. Scroll down to the bottom of the purchase page and click on the green ‘write a review’ button.

Of course, you can also buy it directly from other distributors.