Scared by Tom Davis

This book is hard hitting and does not hold anything back. It is a harsh reality to read the things that so commonly happen to children in Africa. This story, although a novel, could be the story of any number of children who live in Africa or even Asia. It is often a hard life for children in many countries across this world and if this book doesn't convince you that you need to do something to help, then nothing will!

Tom outlines the life of Adanna, a girl who lives in Swaziland who seems to have wave after wave of terrible things happen around her and to her. It could be her courage or strength or her joy and hope in the face of sorrow that endears this girl to your heart. Whatever the reason you find yourself investing in this girls life. It is much the same with the central character Stuart Daniels. He is a photo journalist who has found himself on this assignment in Africa as a last ditch effort to save his career and maybe even his life. His struggles are laid out brilliantly and you quickly get caught up in this riveting story.

Tom Davis has done a masterful job on writing this book, so much so that it literally transports you into the middle of Africa right alongside the characters. He writes so well that it grips your heart and emotions so thoroughly that it will change who you are and how you look at the world. This book does not inspire guilt but encouragement and passion to get involved with the ongoing fight to help those out there that are not able to fight for themselves, to stand in the gap of justice and do what's right.

This book is a must read for everyone!

Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World

Author Tom Davis explores today’s most vital social issues in his new international saga

The United Nations estimates the world orphan population to be over 143 million children. Poverty, war, disease, and AIDS are the primary enemies of children across the globe, leaving those who are robbed of their parents at-risk for criminal behavior, prostitution, drug abuse, alcoholism, and suicide.

In his debut novel, accomplished author and speaker Tom Davis offers readers a sweeping narrative that explores these most critical social concerns. Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World (June 2009/David C Cook) delves into the lives of a photojournalist struggling to redeem his past and an African orphan fighting for survival.

Once a celebrated and award-winning photojournalist, Stuart Daniels is reeling from debt, a broken marriage, and crippling depression. The source of Stuart’s grief is his most famous photo, a snapshot of brutality in the dangerous Congo. This haunting image indicts him as a passive witness to gross injustice.

Stuart is given one last chance to redeem his career: A make-or-break assignment covering the AIDS crisis in a small African country. It is here that Stuart meets Adanna, a young orphan fighting for her life in a community ravaged by tragedy and disease. But in the face of overwhelming odds, Adanna finds hope in a special dream, where she is visited by an illuminated man and given a precious gift. Now what seemed like a chance encounter will forever change their lives.

In Scared, Tom Davis, also the author of Red Letters and Fields of the Fatherless, weaves a beautiful story of redemption that takes place in a world far away from our own. Readers will discover, along with Stuart, that, “Sorrow is a part of life, but our tears can leave us with clearer sight, if we look to God.”

True “fiction with a conscience,” Davis’ novel is the first in a planned series of three. Narrated in the first person by both Stuart and Adanna, Scared offers a unique perspective on the tragedies taking place in Africa today and encourages readers to step out and help the “least of these.”

Author Bio

Tom Davis is the well-known author of Red Letters and Fields of the Fatherless. He also serves as a trainer in leadership development. He holds a Business and Pastoral Ministry degree from Dallas Baptist University and a Master’s Degree in Theology from The Criswell College. He is the president of Children’s HopeChest (www.hopechest.org), a Christian-based child advocacy organization helping orphans in Eastern Europe and Africa. Tom and his wife, Emily, have five children.

Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World by Tom Davis

David C Cook/June 2009/ ISBN 978-1-589191-02-0/288 pages/softcover/$14.99

www.davidccook.com ~ www.scaredthebook.com

Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove

I absolutely loved this book. It had some seriously heavy topics that it touched on but Grove covered them well and shone a light into this otherwise dark topic that most people turn a blind eye to.

The story begins with being introduced to the main character of the book, Kate attending her husbands funeral. Shortly after she begins to hear the voice of her dead husband. We follow the story with her thinking that she is going insane and not being able to tell anyone about it. Her story seems to go from bad to worse, but through it all she keeps searching for the answers. Though her mind seems fragile she keeps persevering to find the answers that she knows are lurking somewhere in her mind.

This book sheds a great healthy light on how amazingly intricate our brains are and how when we have been hurt it often takes others helping us to get us through. This book is full of grief and hope, horror and humor. It takes you through the roller coaster ride that Kate is on as if you were right there beside her.

For her first novel, I would say it was a smashing success!

Go check out her web site! www.bonniegrove.com Or go buy this amazing, uplifting book from www.davidccook.com or anywhere else that sells it. Let's hope we can convince this amazing new Canadian first time novelist to keep up the good work!!

Talking to the Dead

In her first novel, author Bonnie Grove offers readers a tender, quirky story about grief—and second chances

"Kevin was dead and the people in my house wouldn’t go home. They mingled after the funeral, eating sandwiches, drinking tea, and speaking in muffled tones. I didn’t feel grateful for their presence. I felt exactly nothing,” writes Bonnie Grove in Talking to the Dead (David C Cook, June 2009). “Funerals exist so we can close doors we’d rather leave open. But where did we get the idea that the best approach to facing death is to eat Bundt cake?”

In her first novel, beloved author Bonnie Grove pens a poignantly realistic and uplifting story of hope, grace, and recovery from grief. Grove’s main character, twenty-something Kate Davis, can’t seem to get the grieving widow thing right. She’s supposed to put on a brave face and get on with her life, right? Instead, she’s camped out on her living room floor, unwashed, unkempt, and unable to sleep—because her husband Kevin keeps talking to her.

Is she losing her mind? Kate’s attempts to find the source of the voice she hears are both humorous and humiliating, as she turns first to an “eclectically spiritual” counselor, then a shrink with a bad toupee, an exorcist, and finally group therapy. There she meets Jack, the warmhearted, unconventional pastor of a ramshackle church, and at last the voice subsides. But when she stumbles upon a secret Kevin was keeping, Kate’s fragile hold on the present threatens to implode under the weight of the past…and Kevin begins to shout. Will the voice ever stop?

In this tender, quirky novel about embracing life, Grove patiently walks readers through the depths and mysteries of extreme sorrow after the death of a loved one. As she takes an unflinching look at the mental health industry, Grove’s training in counseling and psychology brings realism and empathy to grief and mental breakdown. While Kate must confront her own loss to find the grace to go on, readers will be led to the God who is always willing and able to comfort hearts in pain.

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