Quaker Summer (Women of Faith Fiction) (2007 Novel of the Year)

by Lisa Samson

Book Overview

Sometimes you have to go a little bit crazy to discover the life you were meant to live.Heather Curridge is coming unhinged. And people are starting to notice. What's wrong with a woman who has... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595542078
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A MUST READ

God has been speaking to me over the last couple of months about getting out of my comfort zone and ministering to those who are enslaved...enslaved by sin, addictions, poverty, and abuse. He has used QUAKER SUMMER by Lisa Samson and the movie AMAZING GRACE to open my eyes to the fact that though slavery may no longer be legal here in America, there are so many who are enslaved in other ways. They need to be set free...they need the Father's grace and power to remove the shackles that bind them up. But how will they know if those of us who are already free do not go and show and tell? In AMAZING GRACE the movie, the story is told of William Wilberforce and others who poured out their very lives to fight against the slave trade. Their's is a historically true story...a profound story of God's grace and power. QUAKER SUMMER is a fictional story, but it is still very true. For in it is a message of truth. The protagonist, Heather, is a woman who "has it all". She has a devoted husband, a great teenage son, a beautiful home, and all the other stuff and fluff that money can buy. But she's empty inside and all the "good stuff" in her life is enslaving her in a gilded cage. Through a God-ordained "accident", she finds herself slammed with the reality of how the "other half" lives. She meets Godly women whose lives are not dedicated to living "the good life" but to DOING good to and for others. She begins to finally see that all the stuff in the world will never fill the void inside...the void that only God and being about His business can fill. Heather must make some scary choices. She must be willing to sacrifice and change. She must be willing to break out of HER chains that bind in order to help set the captives free. And through it all, Heather learns that its only in giving away does she really receive.

Word Imagery at its best

Heather Curridge is living the life she's always dreamed of and that everyone envies. She's married a doctor, has a wonderful son, good friends, a big house, and enough money to splurge on whatever she wants. However buying tennis courts and swimming pools isn't all it's cracked up to be. Soon Heather finds herself feeling unsatisfied with her life. Her son's encounters with a bully dredges up old memories from her past. It takes a jaywalking kangaroo, a car full of cake and two Quaker ladies to help Heather realize what are the most important things in her life. First off I loved the Beatles references in this book. The book was divided into three parts, each named after a Beatles song. Heather's story was very intriguing. Her past with Gary and Mary kept getting hinted at throughout the book, giving you only slight glimpses into the past. This either will keep you wanting to read to find out more, or frustrates you because Heather keeps bemoaning over these events which the reader is clueless about. Heather, though, is a very realistic character who says things I would say and reacts to situations like a real person would. The secondary characters bring life into the story such as Sister Jerusha, Anna and Liza. What I really enjoyed about this book is that it is not at all preachy. The main character is not an active church goer and tells about problems she has with church itself. While at the end of the book Heather has changed, she doesn't become a stereotypical church fanatic like in some other Christian novels. This book had some of the best word imagery I have ever read. I enjoyed the descriptions in this book. I could literally see that car covered in cake and could feel the canoe riding across the lake. This was my first Lisa Samson book and it definitely won't be my last. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.

Lisa Samson's Finest Yet!

I have just finished the amazing journey of reading Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson. If you have read Lisa's novels before, you know they are populated with characters for whom both God and earthly life are very real, and sometimes raw. There is plenty of dirt under the fingernails, skinned knees and bruised egos. And a startling lack of pat answers. Quaker Summer follows eight months in the life of Heather Curridge, as she travels from her lavish home by the loch to the privileged school her son attends, into the path of a kangaroo and a home of wise women, to a last chance hotel housing homeless drug addicts and a nun with a raw knuckled hope. God holds up a mirror to Heather through the many vivid characters who surround her, and pries from her her addiction to things, the false comforts she has swaddled herself in, but also her guilt and grief at her role as a childhood tormentor. Heather's Suburban plows her forward on a path that is relentless and impossible to abandon. Many times I held the book in my lap to pause to laugh, to cry, to gasp in self-recognition, or just breathe the priceless and unexplainable grace, that against all odds, envelops us, beloved by God. Lisa Samson employs her usual deft balance of character development and introspection with a bracing plot. She skillfully moves us backward and forward in time, all over the map of our carefully ordered sense of the different parts of the Body of Christ, and is as unflinching in her rendering of doubt, questions and cruelty as she is in her compassion and respect for her characters. I am more than thankful I read this book, but I can't say yet all the ways it will change me. There's room. Join Heather and find yourself in the story.

Strong statement about the power of God's grace

Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson is another terrific book by my favorite author (this book has officially cemented that position). When reading a lot of Christian authors, you get the impression that after you find God, life just magically falls into place. The temptation to sin disappears, and prosperity and good health follow. If our lives don't fit this profile, we feel like we've failed somewhere along the way. Heather Curridge has the life we all dream of: handsome husband, smart affectionate child, beautiful house filled with lovely things, but she feels unfulfilled. Memories of childhood cruelty haunt her, and she's spending money to heal wounds she won't even acknowledge. Samson brings back a few characters from her previous novel Women's Intution (and she snuck them, I kept thinking, why are these people so familiar?) and touches on the damage childhood bullying does not just to the target, but also to their families and to the bullies themselves. She also addresses the failure of churches to touch the world outside of their own four beautifully painted walls. I love Samson's style of writing. Each phrase was obviously lovingly worked on to exude mood and setting. No word is wasted here. Heather's narration is almost stream of consciousness, and while on occasion it makes the reader want to shake her, it also makes her easy to empathize with. Heather works through her pain and guilt by working at a shelter downtown. I recently read a quote, "God says: While you're waiting on me to do something good for you, begin doing something good for others." Heather lives this, and her life and all those around her are blessed for it. I have no complaints about this book, other than I'm going to have to wait too long for the next one.

What an amazing book!

It's not often that I say, "This book changed my life," but in the case of Quaker Summer, I shout it with a hearty amen. Samson weaves a compelling, surprising, faith-awakening story with the deft skill of a writing artisan. Her characters practically materialize in the room when you're reading, wooing you to consider their lives, struggles and questions. Samson puts a human face on consumerism, compelling the reader to consider Jesus' radical call, but she does so with candor and grace. A highly recommended book.