Daniel Brouwer's newest novel SAFFIRE
is a colorful, historical story of the Panama Canal
during it's construction era in the early 1900's.
Technology was starting to rock right around then and the feats of new inventions were awe inspiring to all. There were so many issues surrounding the construction of the Panama Canal and the story speaks to disease, race relations, customs of the time, as well as international intrigue. The title character of Saffire is a little girl who is multi-racial.
The main character, James Holt, is a soldier turned rancher who knows the President of the United States from his military days. The President then sends him on a mission to Panama on behalf of America's concerns as well as the little girl Saffire. There is danger for all involved as well as mystery for where the real danger is coming from. Is the danger coming from people from Panama or the local government? Or is the danger from another country that wants to take over Panama in order to have control of the Canal for their country's benefit?
The story is full of colorful characters that could be played in a movie in a serious vein like Masterpiece Theater usually does or the characters could be flipped to a more comical version. I would compare the style of writing Brouwer uses in this novel to Charles Dickens. This book would also make a good movie because of the scenic background of Panama and the massive scope of work that had to be taken to build the canal. It is a good steady read with nothing too objectionable in it.
PRACTICAL LIFE APPLICATIONS
1. There are often things going on behind the scenes in the world that we don't know about.
2. Do what good you can in the world but be sure and get back to take care of your own home and hearth.
3. The success is in the details.
One thing the novel SAFFIRE made me wonder about was how different American lives might be today if America hadn't built the Panama Canal in order to have more control of ocean travel speeds for economical concerns and military reasons. We will never know!
The novel SAFFIRE is published by Waterbrook which is a division of Crown Publishing Group. Sigmund Brouwer is also the author of nineteen other novels which includes THIEF OF GLORY THAT won the Christy Award.
*This book was given to me free for review from Blogging for Books. Book Cover provided by Blogging for Books and the publisher.
