Passing on a vision
of life with God
The Legacy (Secrets
of the Shetlands, Book 3)
Author: Michael
Phillips (www.fatheroftheinklings.com)
Publisher: Bethany
House Publishers (www.bethanyhouse.com)
Pages: 451
I normally would not
think of starting with the last book in a three volume series. I
hesitated, wondering if I should seek to acquire the first. I
received a review copy, and instead of seeking to acquire the first
two books, I decided to start with what was provided. Now that I have
finished it, I don’t feel like I have lost out by not starting at
the beginning. Like any volume in a series, it should be written well
enough to stand alone. The Legacy by Michael Phillips does not
disappoint in that regard, nor on other levels.
Phillips and his
wife Judy spend time each year in Scotland. So Phillips writes with
meticulous detail about life in the fictitious Whales Reef set in the
Shetland Islands, right down to the foods, plants and customs. J. R.
Tolkien has been rightly lauded for creating such a fully-realized
alternate world in The Lord of the Rings. Although this series
is not fantasy, I applaud Phillips for doing something similar in
creating such a true-to-life story in modern and pre-modern settings.
This tale flips back
and forth between the beginning of the twenty-first century and the
early to mid twentieth century. The time periods are tied together by
the stories of two families and their ancestors: one in America and
the other in the Shetlands. At times the continual back and forth was
hard for me to follow, but I think it’s more of a challenge for me
than a problem on the part of the author. It’s all well done, and
the chapter headings make the time and place clear. Plus, the
chapters are short in length, which makes for easier reading. As I
have said before, Phillips is an excellent writer. I enjoy reading
his books just for the writing alone, but fortunately he offers much
more than that.
You get two grand,
sweeping love stories, which develop slowly, but are ultimately
worthwhile, especially towards the end. If you like rich character
development, you find it here. I was captivated by the villain that
readers meet towards the end.
In a time when even
the best of our race can seem sullied just by being in this world, we
meet honorable characters facing real-life situations. Don’t
believe that fiction is just escapist entertainment and has nothing
to offer.
This book highlights
what really matters: themes of family, love and most importantly,
passing on a spiritual legacy. The inheritance of land, as important
as that may be, is symbolic of something deeper, as Phillips writes
of the father of one of the main characters:
For him the land was life. It was a legacy that had been passed down
to him and that was his responsibility to love and protect and pass
along to his descendants with the same devotion. It is what he called
the Deuteronomy legacy. The land was a biblical symbol for something
deeper―a
permanent family legacy that can only be passed down from fathers to
their sons and daughters (359).
That
legacy is “the spiritual vision of life with God.”
This
thought is bolstered by the interest the author shows in Quaker
spirituality. The first reference highly esteems it:
Among America’s Christian
denominations, Quakers had always been at the vanguard of progressive
thinking. Had it not been his own ancestor, Quaker John Woolman, who
had awakened the American conscience against slavery fully a century
before the Civil War? Quakers, too, were socially ahead of their time
in respect of women and their standing in the world (26).
A
little further on we find two Quaker literary references. The first
pertains to Hannah Whithall Smith’s autobiography. The second is
her book A Christian’s
Secret of a Happy Life,
regarded as a Christian classic.
I
delight in the literary references sprinkled throughout these pages.
Of course, Phillips would be remiss, if he did not make some mention
of the beloved Scotsman, George MacDonald. He and C. S. Lewis have
been his mentors in writing and the spiritual life.
Being
a book lover, I appreciate the thought that passing on one’s books
can be part of sharing one’s faith with future generations. We can
be enriched by the writings of those who have gone before.
Having
authored more than seventy books, Phillips is at the top of his
craft. His maturity makes me hope for even more books to come. His
vision of life with God is helpful and instructive.
Check
out the website (link provided after author’s name at beginning of
review) to find fiction and nonfiction that you might enjoy reading.
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