Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Warriors With Holy Hands by Peter Toeg


About the Book


Book: Warriors with Holy Hands
Author: Peter Toeg
Genre: Christian Suspense
Release Date: February 3, 2017

Warriors With Holy Hands  is the story of a young woman who finds herself lost in time and whose life over a period of three years is spiraling downward. Ruth Falk is stricken with an inexplicable illness and then orphaned. With only a distant relative in her life now, Ruth faces a life of debilitating pain and infirmity. She determines to look to the past for answers she believes her bloodline may reveal.

Searching through diaries and records, Ruth discovers blood relatives and others who lived far away over the course of a century.  We follow their lives across three generations culminating in the revelation of indisputable connections that are created—words and actions with lasting results.

Ruth learns that a curse spoken by one ancestor may have had a devastating domino effect, one whose beginning also engaged her prayer-warrior grandmother in a pitched spiritual battle to break. A challenged believer herself, Ruth grows in the faith of her predecessors who faced ominous situations.

The rich symbolism of Judaism provides a backdrop for the saga with traditions and meaning sprinkled throughout the story.

When she faces increasing paralysis, Ruth and a birth friend in the faith journey to the Southern Highlands of Tennessee where it all began. Here in the span of seven days—over ten months—all that has unraveled in recent years comes together. Life as she knows it will never be the same.

God reveals himself to Ruth and others in remarkable ways along a tortuous path that comes full circle.

Warriors is a mystery that is finally, stunningly, revealed as serendipitous fruit from the branches of a family tree. It is a story of encouragement and life that empowers those who seek God and believe.


Grab your copy HERE.




My Review

If I had one word to describe this book it would be just plain deep. We are introduced to a woman with debilitating disease searching through her family history for answers. We are introduced to a countless amount of her ancestors, entries from journals, and more from all different time periods, and the struggles they faced. Each timeline is woven together seamlessly, and yet we are presented with so much, I feel I know each character by the end. How our author managed to weave all these timelines, with an intriguing plot pace, all while making each character unique and complex is beyond me. It is quite the emotional, intriguing masterpiece. The suspense we find within is more of the hunt of the heroine's ancestry and the surprises which unfold which I think makes for such interesting reading material since we can do so much with ancestry nowadays. Also, the tie in of the Jewish backdrop and customs I thought were very educational. The thread of faith woven so clearly throughout was an inspiration! Also, being someone with a chronic illness, I thought the author really portrayed our heroine well in light of the emotional and physical toll once faces because of it. I recommend you read this book chapter at a time and digest, perhaps even take notes, because this is a truly deep read you have to take your time to get straight in your mind. I can tell you the ending, and how each character culminates  is worth the effort. I recommend this book for any Christian fiction reader, just have to be willing to take your time. :)



I received a complimentary copy of this book, and all opinions given are entirely my own. 




 

About the Author


Peter Toeg was a technical writer for over twenty years and a trained journalist who taught communication and media writing for fifteen years at a small Midwestern university. A believer for thirty years, he has roots that extend both to Iraq and Judaism, two themes in Warriors.

He writes full-time now: mostly memoir and short stories with several published. Writing is his avocation.  


More from Peter

I’ve always been fascinated with connections, whether family or circumstances. As a memoirist, I have been granted a wonderful perspective on my life filled with connections. Warriors With Holy Hands is a family saga in that vein. Exploring our roots and bloodline. In Warriors, a young woman receives a wonderful gift from the grandmother she never knew and learns the power of prayer.
Ruth Falk, the main character faces two problems: an illness that is robbing her of her mobility and, as an orphan, little knowledge of her past. She wonders whether the two are connected: her background and her illness. So begins her amazing search. In her debilitating condition, time is not on her side. As often happens in a family, we discover more than we expect. I did forty years after being orphaned myself. I learned that my father rescued his own sister and mother, spiriting them to safety with him when he emigrated from a hostile land to the United States. The grand deception was revealed in documents I’d tucked away. I’d never been told the story. Ruth Falk also crosses paths with a man on a spiritual journey and another mysterious soldier-warrior, who is mentally gifted—and also her rescuer. Spanning one hundred years and populated by a dozen remarkable people and a few miscreants, Warriors With Holy Hands is a mystery and adventure with wonders and rich spiritual truths. And maybe a miracle or two. It was quite a trip for me in the writing as I trust it will be for my readers.

 Peter Toeg  


Excerpt from Warriors:

“Tell me why you’re here, Jacob,” I said through the chorus.

We sat at angles to each other in wicker chairs, the vantage of direct face-to-face lost. A candle on a small table before us illuminated considerably more than our plastic glasses and now-soggy paper plates. “Everybody has to be somewhere, sis.” A quick response. I pressed. “

What are you looking for here? I have reasons—that you’ve hammered me with. What about your family? Are you taking the genealogy route?” Jacob finished his wine. A loud swallow. I caught him looking at his stump, the prosthetic he’d removed before we came out. He’d rarely been this quiet in my presence this long, the flight excepted.

Then he placed the drained glass down, stood, and, with his hand, moved the table to his left, pulled his chair more directly opposing me, and sat down. Military posture, his arms on the chair arms. He looked kindly at me with wine-softened eyes. “I’m here to help you, Ruthie.” He looked into the night and back at me. “I confess I do have some unfinished business. You’re smart enough to know that—and what it is.” A sad smile formed, genuine emotion breaking out. I saw hurt in his eyes brewing deep down. “Your father. You have a bridge to cross.” I touched his hand with mine and withdrew it after a moment. “Over a river.” Jacob looked away longer now, and then back, but he said nothing. “I can carry you, Jacob,” I said confidently. “You’re not alone.”

 Jacob looked at me, a little surprised and pleased at the same time, his eyes damp. “We are kin, are we not? Covenant. A covenant of three.” I nodded, looked at his stump and then down at my legs. I lifted up my plastic glass and looked at Jacob through its prism with a squint. “Your father’s spirit is not at the river, but God is… Look for Him and you’ll find your father.” He nodded. “As much as we think what happens is about us, it’s not, is it?” I shook my head. I had momentarily seen Jacob’s face distorted through the glass by the candlelight. Now, the glass removed, his face was almost radiant.

“It is said the mystic knows God by contact of spirit with spirit; cor ad cor loquitur. He has the immediate vision…he hears the still, small voice speaking clearly to him in the silence of his soul.” “And what is the translation?” Jacob perked. I felt at rest in the moment after a day on the road had awakened nerve pain in my limbs. Gone now. “It means ‘heart speaks to heart.’ Some Catholic theologian. Some say that the origins of the heart speaking are in music—a crystal voice, the sounds of the night, the call of a bird—rushing water.” I waved my hand in a sweeping motion at the darkness before us that was filled with sound. Jacob nodded then returned to his usual playful self. “So, you’re going to carry me, eh kid?” “We all need to be carried.” (p. 123)



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