The Rumor of Heaven

By C.J. Chanler

This historical novel tells the timeless story of one womans journey through life, marked by those moments she promises herself to remember and by her most guarded secrets. "I lay there, sucking air... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595416578
• ISBN13: 9780595416578
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Growing up in Galveston

Reviewed by Joe Graham for Reader Views (4/07) If you have ever been to Galveston, Texas, or any seaside resort with great homes and admired those homes and wondered what it would be like to grow up in such a home, "The Rumor of Heaven" may have some answers to that question. "The Rumor of Heaven" is the story of Lillie Rutherford who was born in 1855 in Galveston which made her BOI (Born on the Island). She was the daughter of John Fletcher Rutherford II, a self-made man who was in the hardware business and Lucinda Sophie Strother. Lillie's family also consisted of three sisters and one brother. Lillie was the baby of the family and she was indulged by her father and brother and that is the fact that propels most of the narrative of the story. She just does not conform to the rules of a proper young rich lady of the 1800s. Part of this is not completely Lillie's fault as she is taught to smoke, drink and play cards by her father and brother as a young child, but what is amusing in a young child, becomes unacceptable in a young woman. The book covers the years of the Civil War as Lillie and her sisters are sent to live with their grandmother; then the story continues as her father decides to send her to Europe to study art. She has talent and her father believes that Europe will be a less repressive atmosphere for a young lady of her spirit. In Europe, at a reception at Windsor Castle she meets and develops an attachment for Charlsie Stratford who is a business associate of her brother. She and Charlsie move back to Galveston with his children in time for the Galveston storm of 1900. Lillie and her family and friends struggle to survive the storm and deal with the aftermath of the storm. The hurricane that struck Galveston in September of that year was one of the great disasters of American history as 8,000 people were killed and Galveston's position as an important city passed up the bayou to the then smaller town of Houston. The entire book is a flashback as Lillie is dying and looks back at the events of her life and what they mean. If you enjoy historical fiction, this might be the book for you as the author takes you from 1855 through the Civil War and then through the Great Storm of 1900. Since I was a resident of the Texas Gulf Coast for many years, I am familiar with Galveston and the great homes and the storm of 1900, so it was easy for me to be swept up in the story. But, I think that anyone can enjoy the story the author has to tell. As Chanler says in Lillie's voice as Lillie tries to describe a color for her life, "I will call it grey...And being mostly grey is a good thing because it means that it was not simple, but complicated and unpredictable." In "The Rumor of Heaven," Chanler manages to tell an engaging story of a life that is not simple, but complicated and unpredictable.