Discovering her Worth by Verne R. Albright

This book is like a Christmas hamper: There is so much good stuff in it, I hardly know where to begin and I won’t even attempt to repackage it in a short review. I will have to content myself with a brief list of the most delectable items. Such as, mother/daughter relationship; malicious sister-in-law; death of a loved one; family business on the brink of bankruptcy; ageing spinster giving up on love and then finding it; sexual dysfunction with compassion; a deep dive into the world of Peruvian Paso horses.

The main character is Malina Yarza, who agrees to try to rescue the family business, Casa Yarza, to prevent her sister-in-law from declaring bankruptcy. It is a gigantic undertaking as there is only $3000.00 in the bank with a towering debt of 8 million and the repair shop and warehouses are filthy and need repairs. Malina overcomes crisis after crisis with her ingenuity and intelligence while struggling against uncooperative family members and a culture that doesn’t take businesswomen seriously.

Love interest is Ramir, an American whose modern ideas sometimes gently clash with the traditional values of the culture in which Malina was raised. Nevertheless, he is always there to support her, and she has a wide array of loyal friends and employees.

Another aspect of this book is that it introduced me to the history of a country I knew little about, which is always interesting. The author, however, has spent a lot of time there and has learned a great deal. He writes authoritatively about the law, business, and customs.

My only critique is the cover that doesn’t do justice to the story. I require only two things from a good historical fiction book – entertainment and education – and this book gave me both. I highly recommend it to readers who are keen to try something different.

*****

About the author.

FLASH: My novel “Playing Chess with God” was voted Online Book Club’s 2019 Book of the Year. Order copies for yourself or to give as gifts.

“My earliest memory,” six foot, nine inch Verne Albright remembers, “is of an English class where the teacher assigned a one-page story. The other students’ reaction was summed up by a boy who exclaimed, ‘how will I ever write a whole page!’ I however, wrote twenty and in the process discovered my life’s first passion.”

At twenty-one Verne traveled to Peru and was enchanted by the country and its people. During that first visit he, his wife, and their year-old daughter traveled by jeep in the Andes Mountains of four nations. Over the next half-century he returned to Peru sixty-four times and imported over two hundred of its Paso horses—including a pair he took overland to California, a nine-month trek of more then five thousand miles in eleven nations. Riding much of the way he came face-to-face with killer deserts, witch doctors, bandits, avalanches, poisonous reptiles, vampire bats, and a violent revolution.

“Finding a true calling is a miracle experienced by few,” he once said, “and Peru provided me with two. I promoted its Paso horses worldwide for over fifty years and more recently began writing historical fiction set in its fascinating past and rich culture.”

Verne is a master story teller and his novels are so well written that they’ve already begun appearing on Best-Seller Lists. And why not? He has lived adventures at least as exciting as the ones he writes about.

Brethren by Robb Pritchard

Set in present-day Northern Wales in A.D. 77, this story is a fictitious depiction of a true event.

Four Dogs from an enemy tribe have been welcomed into the Clan of the Crows of the Ordo-Wiki tribe, and Cadwal knows he must kill them even at the cost of his own life. His failure to do so allows the Dogs to overrun the settlement and carry the people off into slavery. Cadwal is parted from his two young sons, as he is destined for work in the mines, but swears to the gods that he will find and rescue them. Surviving male members of the tribe are chained in a carriage, but Cadwal is dragged behind causing serious injury to his feet. This means he is no use in the mines and so he is sent to the arena.

In a second plot line, Bleddyn, King of the Ordo-Wiki, is dying and his sons are vying for his throne. One has been poisoned and Helig has survived and the youngest, Derog, is willing to deal with the Romans if they will allow him to become king of the Holy Island of Mona. The Dogs have also joined the Romans against the Ordo-Wiki.

After enduring much hardship and escaping from seemingly impossible situations, Cadwal joins forces with Brei, a healer, Helig, and an unpleasant druid named Tegan to thwart the plan. I have never read of druids being agents of terror, but when confronted by Tegan, our hero turns into a wimp – so much so that he is forced to forego his promise to find his sons and agrees to walk into the lion’s den after coming within an inch of losing his life while escaping from that situation. The motivation was a bit weak there.

Once the author had established the characters and background (the latter without any lengthy and intrusive visits to the past) in the early pages, the action was non-stop and the danger of Roman occupation always hovered in the future. Despite what I saw as a weak main character in Cadwal, I enjoyed the book.

In the end notes, the author writes that the book has been edited twice. I suggest a further edit or proofreading as there are many mistakes, principally missing words.

****

About Robb Pritchard

For the day job, I have the unbelievable privilege of travelling the world to test drive classic Porsches and Ferraris and the occasional crazy off-roader.

The passion though, has long been writing novels. It’s taken a few long years to get here but Brethren is about to malt its fluffy fledgling feathers and be released into the wild. Hopefully, I wrote it well enough that it can fend for itself.