Book Review: "Resurrection in May" by Lisa Samson

A strange and wondrous friendship ignites the fire of love in May Seymour's life. Lovely and winsome May Seymour graduated from college with the world at her feet… and no idea what to do with it. A spontaneous mission trip to Africa brought a great surprise—love—and a strong sense of purpose. But in loving others there, she encountered a severe tragedy that left her deeply wounded. She comes to heal at the farm of Claudius Borne—a sweet, kind old man who understands plants and animals far better than people. And his farm becomes May’s home. There on the farm, May renews a friendship with an old college flame named Eli whose path has taken unexpected turns too. As May tries to convince Eli to grab hold of life once again, he begins to pull May from her sheltered existence. Like old Claudius’s farm in spring, May begins to blossom back into life. But no resurrection ever comes without sacrifice—and this sacrifice will forever transform May.

Lisa Samson is one of those authors that I always recommend to readers, regardless of whether they read Christian fiction or not. I have found her books to be comparable to general market authors and she is always one of three authors that I mention as soon as someone asks me who writes good books. This story is yet another that I will be recommending.

The story is about May, a young college girl who finds herself having no direction in her life. She discovers a place where she can grow with Claudius, an old man who is usually a loner. The unlikely pair grow and blossom their friendship until May goes off to Rwanda on a mission trip. May's experiences in Rwanda were difficult to read yet it was important that they were in the book. Samson doesn't shy away from the hardships of the situation yet at the same time doesn't make the reader suffer through graphic descriptions. May was incredibly brave to get past all that. There aren't many people who would have been able to come out of that situation without huge emotional scars that would affect them for the rest of their lives.

After she returns, May returns to the farm to heal and then plans on staying on to continue her life there. The farm becomes her hiding place, the only place where she feels safe. When threats come to take away her refuge, May does whatever she can to keep it intact. The second half of the story also blew me away. I was really surprised at how the relationship between Eli and May grew and the turns that it took. I was VERY surprised at the ending of the story. Without spoiling the ending, it really makes one think about capital punishment and the death penalty.

Overall, while I enjoyed the story, I didn't feel as if was my favorite adult book from Samson (her YA series, Hollywood Nobody, is one of my favorite YA series). Currently that honor belongs to Embrace Me. With this book, I felt a bit lost at times and there were several slow scenes that I felt was dragging the story. The writing however is beautiful. It's very poetic and the characters are both complex and engaging at the same time. Even with my qualms, it's a very good read and again another book that I would recommend to any reader of high quality fiction.

Resurrection in May by Lisa Samson is published by Thomas Nelson (2010)

This review copy was provided by the publisher