Book Review- What Momma Left Behind by Cindy K. Sproles

Well, here we are back again. I hope to get back on a roll with blogging, so let’s start it out with a book review, why don’t we.

I recently received a copy of What Momma Left Behind by Cindy K. Sproles from Revell Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I had never read any books by this author before, so why not a little background? This is the bio I found on her website:

“Cindy K. Sproles is an author and a speaker, whose dream is to do nothing more than craft words that speak from the heart. God’s plan seems to be for her to write and teach the craft.  With God’s guidance, Cindy is expanding her horizons. We’ll see how He uses her.

Cindy is a mountain gal. Proud of her heritage, she was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains where life is simple, words have a deep southern drawl, and colloquialisms like, “well slap my knee and call me corn pone” seem to take precedence over proper speech. Apple Butter, coal mining, the river, pink sunrises, and golden sunsets help you settle into a porch swing and relax. Family, the love of God, and strong morals are embedded into her life in the mountains. Teaching writers, spinning fiction tales about life in the mountains, history, and down-home ideas find their way into all she does. “I love to write devotions, to seek after the deeper side of Christ, and to share the lessons He teaches me from life in the hills of East Tennessee. I am a writer. A speaker. A lover of God’s Word and friend to all.” This is Cindy Sproles. Welcome home to the mountains.”

Knowing that the author herself is from the Appalachian Mountains, helps to understand how she can so accurately write in the tone of the characters in the book. But, oh yeah, I haven’t told you about the book yet. Let’s read the book’s description and then I will tell you some of my thoughts on it.

“Worie Dressar is 17 years old when influenza and typhoid ravage her Appalachian Mountain community in 1877, leaving behind a growing number of orphaned children with no way to care for themselves. Worie’s mother has been secretly feeding a number of these little ones on Sourwood Mountain. But when she dies suddenly, Worie is left to figure out why and how she was caring for them.

Plagued with two good-for-nothing brothers–one greedy and the other a drunkard–Worie fights to save her home and the orphaned children now in her begrudging care. Along the way, she will discover the beauty of unconditional love and the power of forgiveness as she cares for all of Momma’s children.

Storyteller and popular speaker Cindy K. Sproles pens a tender novel full of sacrifice, heartache, and courage in the face of overwhelming obstacles.”

Alright, now we have a little background. Now, I am also not one to give away important spoilers about the books I read, so if I share something about the plot, it’s going to be something you will have read within the first few chapters of the book if you pick up a copy.

As I mentioned above, the author does use some colloquialisms and things that just sound downright grammatically incorrect, but are fitting for the times, locations and characters in What Momma Left Behind. When I discovered that the main character, Worie, was only seventeen years old, I was quite surprised due to her maturity and the fact that she was already saying that she gave up the opportunity to get married. Ahh, how times have changed. 

This truly was an amazing story that really drew me in to the characters. I especially loved Worie’s brother Justice and Bess and Ely. How amazing it was that Worie took in so many orphaned children without really even a second thought. I loved Worie’s spitfire attitude as well, because,as the book says: “’Mountain women shoved their feelins over their shoulder and go on. It’s what they do. It was what I would do.”

I love period pieces and after looking at the author’s other books, I can definitely see myself checking out more of them in the future. Alright, so that’s enough of my thoughts! Go read it yourself: What Momma Left Behind