06/05/2025
I just finished this book, and I hardly know where to begin in sharing my thoughts.
What a powerful story - full of heartache, but with equal measures of healing and promise.
First, before reading A Hundred Crickets Singing, let me recommend that you start with the story immediately preceding this - Night Bird Calling. It helps to flesh out all the characters from the little town of No Creek, North Carolina. Celia, Marshall, Lilliana and more take center stage in the middle of World War 2, and they go on a journey back to the Civil War that none of them expected to take.
The hard parts of this story are not glossed over. There is incredible loss in both timelines because the reality is, war changes people as they take sides. Anyone on the opposing side is the enemy, and "truth" and "which side God is on" means different things to different people. But amidst all that heartache and division, healing is taking place in the lives of these characters as they work to repair decades of secrecy and attempt to make things right. It is no easy story to read, but it's worth every second. Once these characters take hold of your heart, you can't help but root for their success and happiness.
If you love layered, redemptive historical stories, I highly recommend A Hundred Crickets Singing by Cathy Gohlke.
β¨ Have you read this incredible novel? Or has there been another Christian historical novel that has moved you lately?
Tyndale House Crazy4Fiction
