Review of All that Makes Life Bright - The Life and Love of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Jose S. Kilpack

Hello Readers,

Before reading All That Makes Life Bright - The Life and Love of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Josi S. Kilpack I did not know much about Harriet Beecher Stowe. I recognized her name but did not know from what. When I posted a picture of this book on Instagram  a follower asked me if I had read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and then I knew how I recognized Stowe's name. I have not read Uncle Toms Cabin but of course I have heard of that book because it is a classic. Knowing nothing about Harriet made me want to dive quickly into the book and learn more about this woman who felt like a mystery to me. 

All That Makes Life Bright is a fictional retelling of Harriets, or Hattie as she is called by her friends and family, life starting at the point in her life where she meets and marries her husband Calvin. Hattie is an independent “literary” woman, but she begins falling in love with Calvin whose wife has passed away and left him a widow. Calvin views Hattie as smart, literary, and lively. She challenges him intellectually in ways he has not been challenged before. Calvin wants Hattie to continue being the literary woman he has fallen in love with. Soon after their marriage  both Hattie and Calvin realize that wants and reality sometimes don’t meld together. Life sometimes brings new adventures and a short two months after Hattie marries Calvin she finds herself pregnant. She discovers her pregnancy very soon after getting news that Calvin is about to take a business trip to Europe that will take him away for months. Hattie has learned that being a wife is nothing like what she expected and now she must journey down the road of motherhood, and she is not sure how to proceed on her own until Calvin returns from his business trip. During her time apart from her husband Hattie is worries that she sacrificing herself to be a wife and mother. Hattie needs to figure out what she meant when she said “I do” to Calvin and now what it means to a mother to the child she is carrying. 

Hatties journey to becoming a wife and mother was very flawed, as is all of our journeys I think. She would continually lose herself in her love of writing or visiting with friends and family that she would put off any and all household chores. Hattie would be working on dinner when an idea for a story or article would enter her mind and she would need to write it down. Dinner would be burnt and Calvin would come home upset because the house was in disarray. Calvin is used to order and schedules and living with Hattie is none of those things. Seeing such a real life marriage displayed in this story is one of the reasons why I loved it. Hattie and Calvin truly struggled to find balance in their marriage and then when they became parents. It was refreshing to me to read a story where the couple go through real life struggles and joys of adjusting to marriage and parenthood. 

This story is about fighting for what is important, and struggling to find balance in the home and family. I really enjoyed reading this book and I related to a lot of the circumstances Hattie went through. I would recommend this book for people who enjoy reading fictional retellings of literary writers. As well as for readers who enjoy historical fiction. Harriets life unfolds during a time when people were choosing what side they were going to take on the serious issue of Slavery.

Just a word for my readers. Both Harriet and Calvin are strong Christians and their beliefs and love for Christ is a theme throughout the book. I loved this aspect of this book, but I wanted to give my readers a heads up because I know that some of you don’t prefer reading books with strong Christian Values. 

Overall Rating - 4/5 Stars

Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing for supplying me with an advance reading copy of All That Makes Life Bright - The Life and Love of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Josi S. Kilpack. I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

All That Makes Life Bright - The Life and Love of Harriet Beecher Stowe 

Author: Josi S. Kilpack

Release Date: September 5, 2017

Series: Historical Proper Romance

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

ISBN-13: 978-1629723419

Happy Reading,

Rachael