JenniferB (Canada) (2011/10/29):
A Heart Most Worthy follows the lives of three young Italian women who all work in a dressmakers' shop, each plying their own highly refined and specialized skills. There seems to be a bit of a popular trend in Christian historical fiction following the lives of Italians in New York in the early 1900s, so if you've read one of those books recently, you'll have a good idea of the settings contained within.Now, normally I LOVE Siri Mitchell's work. She is on my list of authors who I must read when a new work comes out. So, I was very disappointed that A Heart Most Worthy just isn't up to the level of the fine writing she has presented in her other titles. She Walks in Beauty is an absolutely amazing book, and I was hoping that Mitchell would write something comparable in her latest novel. Unfortunately the diversity of characters, the omniscient point of view of the narrator (whom actually sound quite condescending although I'm sure those asides are meant to be humorous), and the shallow treatment of the subject matter and character development all left me wanting. My favorite character was Annamaria, her love story is so sweet and actually fairly realistic if you believe in sweet, innocent love stories (I loved her thread of the story). Julietta never did really seem to grow up. From another author I may not have been as disappointed. But from Siri Mitchell? I'm afraid I was. Please, please, don't write from an omniscient point of view again, it really does jerk the reader right out of the story when the narrator pops in with some odd comments that don't really move the story along or tell the reader anything that they can't figure out by inference. Disclosure: I received a review copy of this title. Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com
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