This book changed my life.
Seriously, it did. After school hours when I was in elementary and middle school especially, I would spend time in the small library reading A Gentle Calling. The historical fiction element was what first drew me in, and I learned a great deal about the foundations of Methodism as it began and started to gain ground in England. The places fascinated me and so did the characters, but none more strongly than Catherine Peronett herself. As I grew up with the novel, I loved rereading the stories of Catherine and her brother Ned as well as the Wesley brother. Catherine's struggles to find God in her life always struck me as sincere, and led me to think about my own life as a result. Ned's composition of his hymns was gripping to read, because as he struggled with the correct phrasing of what he wanted to express in the hymns, I was silently encouraging him to continue. Knowing that these characters really lived (with the exception of Philip Ferrar) caused me to love this story even more than if they were fictitious characters. Donna Fletcher Crow truly brings out the heart of the religious tension in Cambridge, England and the surrounding areas in the 1800s. My rating: 5/5 stars
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