A Five Star Read

Looking for a good book to curl up with on a cold December night? I highly recommend Wings of a Dream by Anne Mateer.

In 1918, Rebekah Hendricks has dreams. Big dreams. Dreams to fly beyond the confines of the family farm and small town Oklahoma. Dreams of big cities, of a life of excitement and adventure.

When a visiting aviator, Arthur Samson, comes calling, she believes he’s the man she is meant to marry, the man to carry her to the fulfillment of her dreams. But he is called to serve in the Great War.

An urgent message is received that her mother’s sister, Ada, is very sick. Rebekah leaves small town Oklahoma for small town Texas where she finds the Spanish flu epidemic has claimed her aunt. Rebekah is faced with caring for four children who have no one else and Arthur’s wishy-washiness about their relationship. The children win her heart and Rebekah faces a decision between her dreams of escape and adventure and the unexpected love that might change her heart.

Author Anne Mateer paints a vivid picture of life on the farms and in the small towns of Oklahoma and Texas while a violent war overseas calls on all to sacrifice and a devastating illness attacks seemingly without limit. She populates her story world with characters who are complex and flawed just like real people, characters with dreams of their own, dreams to fly on their own adventures, dreams of love and family.

In a compelling story, Rebekah faces one challenge after another from her aunt dying to the children getting sick and other childhood misadventures to the love of her life walking away. As I read the story, I asked myself, “What other problems can the author throw at this girl? Can she make it worse?” Yes, she does, piling on tension and difficulties that keep you turning pages to see what happens next and how will Rebekah handle it.

With each challenge, we see Rebekah grow and mature. Each crisis teaches Rebekah more about herself, about people and relationships, and about the God who loves her. In Rebekah, the author shows a person deal with crises beyond anything she’s ever experienced. From death through being a single parent of four, from running a farm through a broken heart, Ms. Mateer takes us on Rebekah’s journey to a life with more excitement and adventure than she ever dreamed possible.