Jan Watson's Skip Rock Shallows, c2012

Coal Miners c1908

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

Jonah 2:6

Skip Rock Shallows

Lilly Gray Corbett has just graduated from medical school and decided to accept an internship in the coal camp of Skip Rock, Kentucky. Her beau, Paul, is doing his residency in Boston and can’t understand why Lilly would choose to work in a backwater town. But having grown up in the mountains, Lilly is drawn to the stubborn, superstitious people she encounters in Skip Rock—a town where people live hard and die harder and where women know their place. Lilly soon learns she has a lot to overcome, but after saving the life of a young miner, she begins to earn the residents’ trust.

As Lilly becomes torn between joining Paul in Boston and her love for the people of Skip Rock, she crosses paths with a handsome miner—one who seems oddly familiar. Her attraction for him grows, even as she wrestles with her feelings and wonders what he’s hiding.
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My Review:
I have read all of Jan Watson's novels, except one which I have and will be going back to read. I first saw her books at our local library when I was reshelving sections being moved to other shelves. The one that caught my eye? Willow Springs. Just happens to be the new community we had just moved to... in Missouri.

I like Jan Watson's style of writing very much. As I was reading, I felt like I was looking in alongside the daily activity and thoughts of each one as they lived it. I feel this is a great accomplishment in a story separate from the telling.

Lilly's love of the people beyond their acceptance of her, charts her course as a surprise connection is unintentionally mentioned in conversation. She feels right at home, although missing her Troublesome Creek home. How will she be able to move to Boston and leave her heart behind? Her medical internship is turning into an unexpected adventure. I have a missing part here! Here are the books before Skip Rock Shallows. Still House Pond is the novel I will be going back to read! I ordered and received it just before Skip Rock Shallows came. I need to find out how Lilly felt about her time with her Aunt Alice in the city and how she chose to go to Skip Rock when she was newly engaged.

Still House Pond

Lilly Gray Corbett loves living on Troublesome Creek, but she would much rather play with her best friend than watch her little brother and the twins. Her mama, Copper, is often gone helping to birth babies, and Lilly has to stay home. When Aunt Alice sends a note inviting her to visit in the city, Lilly is excited to go, and Copper reluctantly agrees to let her. Later, when they hear the news that the train crashed, Copper and her husband, John, rush to find out if their daughter is injured . . . or even alive.

 

Sweetwater Run: In 1891 in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, two young women stand at a crossroads. Both are protégées of the same mentor, Copper Brown, yet they couldn't be more different. Darcy Whitt falls in love with the town's handsome yet unscrupulous attorney who plots to take not only Darcy's land but that of her sister as well.
Meanwhile, her beautiful sister-in-law, Cara Whitt, suddenly finds herself alone and afraid, living in a rickety cabin on the backside of nowhere. As they struggle with the realities of life, both women learn to rely on their faith above all else.

 

Torrent Falls: The year is 1888; Copper is a young widow with a baby trying to make a go of the ramshackle farm she received from her father in Troublesome Creek. Copper's life seems as dilapidated as the farm as she struggles to come to terms with her shattered world. Desperate to rekindle the easy faith she had as a child, she searches for peace and God's direction in the serenity of the Kentucky mountains. Further complicating her life is a budding romance with John Pelfrey, Copper's long ago sweetheart. Once sure she could never love again, Copper gives her heart to John only to face betrayal. A skilled midwife, Copper is challenged in many ways as she ministers to the women of eastern Kentucky. Always a believer, Copper still has much to learn as she grows in wisdom and in faith.

 

 

 

 

Willow Springs: The year is 1883 and following a whirlwind courtship, seventeen-year-old Copper Brown finds herself living in the bustling city of Lexington, KY, far away from her beloved mountain home, newly married to a man she barely knows. Having been raised to put her trust in God, Copper sets out to find a purpose for this new life that she’d never imagined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Troublesome Creek: A charming historical novel set in the late 1800s. Born and raised in the hills of Kentucky, Laura “Copper” Grace loves the wilderness of her home in Troublesome Creek. But when her stepmother threatens to send her away to boarding school to become a lady, Copper faces the possibility of losing everything that is precious to her. Copper must come to terms with her family and discover the true meaning of home. Nothing can drag her off the mountain, until the day she realizes that God has other plans for her life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of Jan Watson's novels are like walking alongside. I look forward to reading more of them!

Jan’s award winning historical novels, are uniquely set in the Appalachian Mountains. In all her books, she artfully draws on the folklore and culture of times long past to create colorful characters living their faith in a world that offers comfort and peril in equal measure. Jan lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

I received this copy of Skip Rock Shallows from Tyndale in exchange for this review in my own words! Thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!