Intense.  That is how I describe Band of Sisters.  Cathy Golke pens an incredible tale set in the early 1900s.  Maureen and Katie Rose leave Ireland in desperation, hoping to leave the shame of the past behind them.

Holding onto hope of a promise made to their father years ago, they leave for America.  Maureen stops at nothing to protect her sister.   In Darcy's department store, Maureen finds work.  Before long she notices girls are disappearing.  Asking too many questions and having too many suspicions, Maureen is intimidated.  To protect Katie Rose, she does not tell her the full truth, which only endangers both girls further.

This book was masterfully penned with characters, rich history, and a story that will remain with you after you turn the final page.

The evil was real then, and it is real now.  (I did appreciate Cathy's sensitivity to keeping the book "clean" while dealing with such a sensitive topic.  Make no mistake, the reader understands exactly what has happened...we just don't have all the gruesome details.)

Band of Sisters opens one's eyes to the horrors preyed upon the poor and the immagrants in the early 1900s.  More than that, Cathy Gohlke has stirred the heart of the readers (at least this one) for the very real implications of human trafficking still happening today, including here in the United States.   Read this one and you'll be considering the question "What would Jesus do?" just as the characters did, though not in the overdone way that was so popular a few years ago.  (Just as Promise Me This incorporated the story of Pilgrim's Progress, this book incorporates a bit of the classic book In His Steps.)

You might be interested in Cathy Gohlke's website or blog, my review of Promise Me This, when I met Cathy, and one of her older books found on my library's YA shelf (though I am not certain that was Cathy's targeted audience).

Thank you Tyndale House Publishers for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}