Helen Scully In the Hope of Rising Again

In the Hope of Rising Again

Helen Scully

Riverhead, Aug 2005, $14.00, 336 PP

ISBN: 1594481032

With the Civil War over, Colonel Riant moves to Mobile where he meets and marries wealthy Regina. However, when she dies from a yellow fever epidemic, the grieving Colonel spends his time running the Mobile Chronicle and doing good deeds for the less fortunate. Fifteen years later, the Colonel weds a second Regina in a marriage of convenience. Their relationship is frosty at best, but still he sires four spoiled sons and a daughter of course named Regina.

Unlike her pampered siblings who adopt their mother's hedonistic lifestyle, Regina the daughter adulates her father who teaches her the importance of caring for the less fortunate. In 1919 twenty one year old Regina the daughter marries Charles Morrow, who seems feckless especially compared with her father. After the Colonel dies, his four moronic sons waste his fortune and Charles kills himself while intoxicated. As the Depression makes life harder, Regina the daughter finds her confidence in Jesus somewhat shaken, but her friendship with her family maid Camilla helps her make it.

Ignoring the urge to sing Henry VIII by Herman's Hermits, readers will enjoy IN THE HOPE OF RISING AGAIN. The tale lives up to its title as an inspirational historical fiction novel that showcases the life of a hardy woman coping with failure. The storyline feels somewhat fragmented, but for the most part follows Regina the daughter as she courageously handles life's curveballs mostly tossed by the males in her life, who fail to live up to dad. Although the ending is too easy of a cop out from Regina the daughter's latest woes, fans of early twentieth century sagas will want to read Helen Scully's fine epic drama.

Harriet Klausner