Review: Love's Pursuit by Siri Mitchell

I finally finished a book this week, and OH WHAT A BOOK! I have now written three lines and deleted them because I'm not sure I can really put into words or do justice in this review. Reading
Love's Pursuit was like the ultimate cathartic experience for me...but in a way that made me face truth rather than escape it. And when I think about my very favorite books this is usually the criteria they meet. People often talk about reading to escape but I think the very best books draw you in and blindside you with the truth. And
Love's Pursuit certainly did that.

Susannah Phillips is seen as a good girl in her Puritan community but she does not see herself as good at all. But she certainly struggles to maintain her image. She hopes to marry John Prescotte and things seem on track until Captain Daniel Holcombe comes to Stoneybrooke to help the community protect themselves from the savages. Daniel challenges everything Susannah believes and offer her friendship. But soon Susannah finds herself betrothed to a man she can't fathom marrying. And really that's all I can say without totally ruining the plot.

Siri Mitchell's books are slow builders. I was reading this book and thinking, yes it's good and all, but probably not my favorite. I had seen some really positive reviews, though, so I kept on. I am so very glad I did, as soon as I hit a little over the halfway mark the book just took off. And I realized I needed that slow build to be so impacted.

The book is beautifully crafted, the language seems authentic to the time, and the characters are sharply drawn. As she did in A Constant Heart, she splits the narrative between two first person voices, though this time it is between two females. I love this passage about bird hunting (but is really about Stoneybrooke),
"'Twas not difficult in the way of sport. The birds followed each other as a group. Too late they learned of their folly. They were easily entrapped by a net thrown over them and then just as easily felled by the blow of a club."

And this one about shame,
"It wrapped itself tighter and tighter until you could scarce breathe from the constraint, and then, finally, it sewed itself shut. Once the cloak was fastened, it could not be cast off, for by then, it had joined itself to the flesh, to one's very soul."


Love's Pursuit is an examination of grace, justice, shame, mercy, and most of all love. And it's beautiful and hopeful. As Susannah says so eloquently, "in my experience, no hope is small."

Siri Mitchell cannot write fast enough for me, I eagerly await her next book.

Rating: 5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: This is Christian fiction, and the discussion of faith and God is very present. But not at all in a didactic way. I love everything about how this book was crafted.


Love's Pursuit is available everywhere now.