The Secret Bridge ~ a Crew review

We were recently introduced to Lamplighter Publishing and the beautiful books they publish. So when The Secret Bridge by Amy Le Feuvre was released and we were given the opportunity to review it, I was more than happy to do so. After all, a rich, historical story focused on the gifts of God and coming to know Him is such a blessing to read. I was very excited about this book.

Lamplighter Publishing chooses stories that bring a God-focused life to light through characters that are strong and courageous. The company edits the stories they choose to reflect the character of God. This does mean that sometimes a story is edited to remove questionable or inappropriate language and/or content. The result, though, is a story that fully meets the mission of the company.

When The Secret Bridge arrived, I was shocked at how lovely it was. This is a hardback book whose cover is a soft, buttery-feeling, leather-like material. Now, I don’t know if it is really leather but it is so soft, that just holding it while reading adds to the pleasure of the story. With the bright gold accents, this is truly a beautiful book that anyone would be proud to have on their shelf.

However, that is not the true value of this book. The value lies in the truths about God that it explores and teaches. Originally written in 1899, the story begins on a boat where we meet Bridget as she is traveling to England after losing her father. Her mother had died very early on in Bridget’s life so her father was her only family. Upon her father’s death, she found out that she did have one other living relative who would take her in. However, this relative also dies before Bridget’s arrival.

A stranger who took an interest in her on the boat happens upon her shortly after she found out she was truly alone in the world. He takes pity upon her and offers to help her. This help is very hard to accept for Bridget but once she does, she finds her world completely changed. Now a bride, Bridget is challenged “Acquaint thyself with Him.”

Bridget’s heart embraces this challenge and so begins the beauty of the story – learning how to search after God, to feel Him searching for His children and reaching for them. Bridget searches out how to “acquaint thyself with Him.” Realizing she doesn’t really know God, her main priority becomes learning to live that out getting to know Him, even among a web of very tangled family relationships.

This is an engaging story that is very thoughtfully put together, tantalizing the mind with hints of what is to come and encouraging the reader to also “acquaint thyself with Him.” In becoming more familiar with Christ, the reader is also brought to know about Christ. There is scripture placed throughout the book that points to Christ and knowledge of Him. That is the true gem of this book – the story is fun and engaging but the knowledge of Christ that is woven throughout the story is precious.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It was an easy read, taking me just a couple of days of reading after the girls were in bed. It was enjoyable and one that I didn’t really want to put down. (And can I just say that I wish I had that terrace walk where she spent her evenings looking out over the sea, longing for her husband’s return?)

I did ask the older two girls to read a bit of the story but it just was not engaging for them. Honestly, having read the book, I can see that. It is really not one that will be that interesting for a pre-teen or early teenager. Possibly at around 15 or so the interest might be there. There are a lot of family relationship complexities in the book and that can be difficult for a younger teenager to understand, thus making the book not make a lot of sense. For me, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

At Home.

There were 80 families who received this book to read. Click below to read what some of them thought about The Secret Bridge.