The following book review was submitted by patron Janice Visser.
Legacy of Mercy by Lynn Austin is the sequel to Waves of Mercy written in 2016. Waves of Mercy was excellent but I felt like I was left hanging at the end, wondering what would happen to the characters. Austin does a wonderful job of pulling together the details of the characters to answer my questions.
Legacy of Mercy is a beautiful story of forgiveness, love, and courage. Each character had to wrestle with these themes: What is most important in life? Is it social status? Does happiness come from great wealth or a simple lifestyle? What does love look like? What are our motives? How can one have the courage to do the right thing? What is the best way to handle a difficult person in our lives?
Austin describes each character in such a vivid way. I felt like I was sitting right next to Anna, Geesje, Derk, William, the Dominie and Cornelia and the others and watching their stories intersect and unfold. I loved the entire story; I couldn’t put it down, because I wanted to find out what decisions each character would make and how each one would react to various troubling situations that came up. My grandparents and other relatives are from Holland, Michigan and I currently live in a suburb of Chicago, so it was a real treat to read about both locations. I understood the characteristics of the Dutch characters. I highly recommend this story to anyone who wants to get lost in a book that has thought provoking characters and themes woven throughout it.