Faith

By: Merry K. Stahel

Narrated by: Merry K. Stahel

Length: 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Afraid of losing the only person left who loves her, Faith follows her widowed mother-in-law to a new home. But God has plans for Faith...plans that include a new love, hope, and a future. Can Faith open her bruised and hurting heart to allow a loving God and a loving man back in?

©2010 Merry K Stahel (P)2012 Merry K Stahel

Good story, but narrated badly

The storyline was good, but the narration was wanting. It didn't sound professionally done, and although it didn't keep me from listening to the story, it was distracting.

Sweet story in need of a different narrator

I enjoy the book of Ruth and, having read/seen several versions of the story, was excited to find this modern-day retelling. The story itself, while not earth-shattering, was sweet. The narration, however, made it hard to truly enjoy the experience.

Normally I enjoy listening to books read by the author, as I figure they are able to depict their characters and story exactly as they imagined them when writing the book, but "Faith" is an exception to this rule. The author's reading style is wooden and rushed, with very little vocal inflection and no pauses where I felt there should have been some sort of a break. At times it made it difficult to understand who was speaking, and overall I found it hard to connect with the characters. In this case, I think I would have enjoyed reading a hard copy of the book more than listening to it. Fortunately, it was only 45 minutes long; I would have had a hard time finishing if it had been much more than an hour.

If you're looking for a fictional interpretation of the story of Ruth, I would highly recommend "Here Burns My Candle" and "Mine is the Night" by Liz Curtis Higgs. Both are also read by the author, and she does a wonderful job of bringing her characters to life.