Into the Free
February 22, 2012
The Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing
Into the Free David C. Cook (February 1, 2012)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
A speech-language pathologist and literacy advocate, Julie Cantrell was the editor-in-chief of the Southern Literary Review and currently teaches English as a second language to elementary students. She has been a freelance writer for ten years and has published two children’s books. Julie and her family live in Mississippi where they operate Valley House Farm.
Julie served as contributing editor to MOMSense magazine and wrote content for Mothers of Preschoolers, Intl. for nearly a decade. Additionally, she has contributed to more than a dozen books. Into The Free is her first book.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Just a girl. The only one strong enough to break the cycle.
In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a “nothing mama,” she struggles to find a place where she really belongs.
For answers, Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The travelers lead Millie to a key which unlocks generations of shocking family secrets. When tragedy strikes, the mysterious contents of the box give Millie the tools she needs to break her family’s longstanding cycle of madness and abuse.
Through it all, Millie experiences the thrill of first love while fighting to trust the God she believes has abandoned her. With the power of forgiveness, can Millie finally make her way into the free?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Into the Free, go HERE.
Sally Says: I’ve said before that southern fiction isn’t my thing. It isn’t. I’m a Chicagoan, and I hate heat. I hate even reading about heat.
So I surprised myself when I became interested in this book. And I surprised myself even more when I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. It’s a great debut novel, one that makes you think that for sure this author has written a few other novels under different names. 
I did have a bit of trouble with the opening chapter; there were some images that I skimmed because I didn’t want to dwell on them. Nothing bad, just something that made me sad. But once I got past that, the book was so good, so enjoyable, even though Millie’s life was anything but good.
Into the Free is definitely a book worth paying money for. Anyone who loves historical or southern fiction will find this book a great one to spend the weekend with.