Book Review: The Hardest Thing To Do – by Penelope Wilcock

Book: The Hardest Thing To Do
Author: Penelope Wilcock
Publisher: Crossway
Date: July 2011
Genre: Christian historical fiction
Pages: 255
Price: $12.99, paperback
My Rating: A wonderful read! .. engaging and inspiring.

I received an ARC (advanced reading copy) from Crossway through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

The Hardest Thing To Do is the first of three sequels to the Hawk and the Dove trilogy which takes place early in the fourteenth century. I had not read any of the books before this one so I didn’t know what to expect, but I am very glad to have been given the opportunity to review it. What a wonderful read!

The story focuses on a monastery in a time of change and struggle as the monks welcome their new abbot. At the same time that his new role begins, Abbot John is faced with a troubling challenge. A man – a monk from another house – comes to them seeking refuge, a man they consider to be their enemy but who is now in dire need, his life in danger. No one trusts or even likes him and the brothers have to deal with issues of forgiveness, bitterness and trust as they take him in while deciding what to do about him in the long-term. The question that insistently stands before them is, “What would our Lord have us do?”

Penelope Wilcock presents the lives and events in the monastery through a journal style of writing. It is an easy book to read, very interesting, captivating, and pulled me in from the first page of the story. The believable characters stay on the reader’s mind as they are followed through their daily routines, their anxieties, joys, fears, and deep desire to walk with Christ. A lovely point in this is that the author had several of the monks discover things that were “the hardest thing to do” for them.

Having not read any other books in this series I am now keen on doing so. If you enjoy historical fiction, then there is a very good chance you will thoroughly enjoy this one. A review that does not give away too much of the story can hardly give the book justice, but The Hardest Thing To Do is well worth the read.

You can find The Hardest Thing To Do listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂