Priscilla Maine: Angels Unaware

DiskUs Publishing (ebook); ISBN: 0966799569

Rebecca Rice, widow, nurse and faith healer, leaves the comfort of her family home and travels to the wilds of 1895 Oklahoma to make a new life. There she hopes to put her training to use, working among the locals to heal their hurts, both physical and spiritual.

Unfortunately for Rebecca, the “hill people” are a withdrawn and clannish lot who instinctively distrust any outsider. Vandals break into her home more than once, and most folks in the community rebuff or ignore her friendly overtures. Yet with the help of a healer known as “Ole Woman,” a young neighbor named Megan, and Rebecca’s own innate stubbornness and determination, Rebecca slowly but surely wins the hill people’s hearts.

Well-written, meticulously researched and thoroughly enjoyable, Angels Unaware will capture and hold your attention ’til the very end of the book. And, since I’m not normally a reader of “inspirational” fiction, I was delighted to find that my misgivings about the story being “preachy” were unfounded.

Although the story drifts once or twice while the author “explains” Rebecca’s beliefs, Priscilla Maine doesn’t forget she’s telling a story and doesn’t stray from her plot to deliver a sermon. What Maine does, and does very well, is involve her reader deeply with each character. She helps the reader understand and appreciate the deep spirituality that illuminates Rebecca’s life.

I recommend reading Angel Unaware. Who knows? You may find yourself looking for the “angels” in your own life.

Teri Smith

Raising hell for fifty years from Alaska to the Azores and all points in between, Teri Smith (nee Dohmen) was an Air Force brat who never stopped traveling. She was also a mother, a grandmother (of ten!), a help desk wizard, a financial assistant, acquisitions editor for Samhain Publishing and, most importantly, the Queen Nag of the Known Universe. A multi-published short story writer, her first novel, With Nine You Get Vanyr, written with Jean Marie Ward, was published in 2007. Contrary to common belief, she never stopped living.