Linda Wood Rondeau has added an uplifting pleasure novel to her non-fiction Christian writing which includes a devotional for parents entitled “I Prayed for Patience; God Gave Me Children”.
As a successful couple who have an amazing dream lifestyle, Henry and Sylvia Fitzgibbons struggle with their career crises and their relationship crises.
As I read of their encounters with positive and negative, I see a good story and symbolism of the stresses affecting a family that one would expect has everything.
Sylvia is a successful fiction author while Henry manages a publishing house which produces Sylvia’s books and those of other authors. As primary client,Sylvia’s books, written as Lana Longstreet, have made the Fitzgibbons family amazingly wealthy.During the story, the point of view changes between Sylvia and Henry and aside to the current chapters of Lana Longstreet’s latest novel. The transition between the woman Sylvia and the author Lana becomes ‘electrical’ as the Lana personality dominates much of Sylvia’s behavior.
As a successful author, Sylvia/Lana and part of her family has lived in an historic old house where Henry senses and sees hostile spirits whenever he is in the home. As a result, the couple spends less and less time together because he cannot be in the house. The division grows until it appears there is little reason to remain together.
The Fitzgibbons have been successful and in control of their lives; their spiritual needs have been of small concern to them. As they reluctantly approach a decision to separate/divorce, the Christian connections, including their grown children and closest friends, that they have begin to move to the forefront. Each realizes that they need some greater spiritual direction; a realization that seems to stimulate the evil aspects that would retain control over them wreaking full havoc on family and home. The ghosts which Henry has seen begin to stalk Sylvia and become a physical threat.
Further symbolism lies in the recovery of vintage rose beds in a garden which have been taken over by the parasitic, smothering vines. As Henry and Sylvia move toward their Christian future, the roses are reclaimed by a reformed entertainer turned gardener who has found God.
As their spiritual positions move toward the positive, the evil is cast out of their home via a prayer intervention involving a large gathering of believers from at least two churches in the community. Will it work? Will Sylvia wake up and realize how she has let the negative Lana personality take over her life?
A bit of trivia from the book for me. I learned about the possibilities of wolf spiders inhabiting a neglected garden shed which is torn apart and replaced in the rose garden. I thought the description of the spiders was a little over the top, so I went to look up wolf spider behavior. The research in the book is not inaccurate, though perhaps a little dramatic.
Readers should approach this story as just that, a story for their uplifted reading pleasure. Characters, as people, come in all sizes, shapes and economic levels. The author has shown us how people who are supposedly successful and have everything that could be desired from a materialistic point of view are still in need of spiritual sustenance and salvation. Days of Vines and Roses is a tale of how such a victory might have been accomplished. Enjoy and be inspired that there is a possibility that your victory might be accomplished.
Thank you, Linda Wood Rondeau, for arranging for me to be able to borrow a copy of this book through Amazon for my Kindle.