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The Pursuit of Elisabeth Millhouse
"My name is Elizabeth Millhouse Brown. At one time, I made a name for myself, so perhaps you have heard of me. I was born May 10th, 1898 to very wealthy parents in a small college town in Pennsylvania…"
Synopsis
Spanning the calamitous turmoil of a World War and the deadly influenza plague of 1918, The Pursuit of Elizabeth Millhouse is a spellbinding portrait of a young girl’s struggle against the travails of modern loss and faithlessness.
Born to privilege and wealth, Elizabeth Millhouse is the only child of a tense and loveless relationship. Sequestered to a boarding school at a tender age, Elizabeth is ordered to stay at school even through the holidays. When she is finally allowed home for the first time, it is only to visit a newly affectionate father on his death bed.
After prayers for her father’s recovery are denied, she rejects God and determines to live her life without reference to Him. Left alone with a cold and distant mother, Elizabeth seeks to forge her own path, searching for permanence and love in a world where circumstances shift like quicksand beneath her feet.
Personal loss and the revelation of her own history build to a sudden understanding-in closing herself to God, she has denied herself the very love she craves.
Reviews
“It pulled me in and I had trouble putting it down” -Money Saving Mom
“A most enjoyable read…thought-provoking” -Thoughts on Life & Faith
“Barber also does an excellent literary job in The Pursuit of Elizabeth Millhouse. The prose is smooth and flows well, the narrative contains excellent coherence, references to intertextuality, and the overall story is both interesting and compelling. Her use of “The Hound of Heaven” (by Francis Thompson), in particular, struck me as a good use of poetry.” -Conciliar Post
“The Pursuit of Elizabeth Millhouse is a refreshing read that is a poignant blend of joy and heart wrenching grief with a steady, unwavering background of God’s persistent love as He pursues one of His little lost lambs. With stylistic parallels to books such as Jane Eyre, Amanda Barber taps into powerful, classic imagery without becoming a copy cat. Indeed, after reading most of the book in one day and ending up in tears I would never have thought it was written by a first time novelist if I was not already aware of that fact. -Josiah E., Amazon.com reviewer
About the Author
Amanda Barber is the author of numerous stories and essays. Her interest in writing began at age eleven, after pulling a journal out of her Christmas stocking. From journaling, she branched out into stories and novelettes. She since developed one of those stories into the novel, The Pursuit of Elizabeth Millhouse. Amanda is first and foremost a Christian, and it is her desire to provide captivating fiction that entertains while it encourages other Christians to keep close to God.