Gilbert Morris

Dear Readers,

I found out about Gilbert Morris' death this past weekend.  I was surprised by the announcement as I had heard he was doing very well, enjoying life and still writing in longhand on a legal pad.

I am sure I am not the only reader who will say this.  Gilbert Morris is part of the reason I started reading Christian fiction.  It was long before I started working for Baker, I stumbled on his Winslow series at the library.  Of course it wasn't 40 books long then, but reading through America's history was fun.

They were the type of read that I could find myself lost in without having to worry about being interrupted by the small children running around the house.  He made his story's interesting and yet they were such gentle reads.

I can remember when I went to my grandparents house to visit and noticed a Gilbert Morris books sitting on an end table.  I asked my grandfather about the book and his answer still makes me smile.  He said he had been reading the book aloud to my grandmother.  Neither one of them had trouble reading at the time, but it was something they would do.  Read books aloud.  They loved to read Gilbert because of his historical content but also the people he included.  They loved finding out about the Winslow family as their legacy continued through America's story.

There is a story that floats around the store every once and awhile.  One afternoon a older gentleman walked in the door and introduced himself as Gil.  Yup it was Gilbert Morris.  He was in town visiting a publishing house, but wanted to visit as many local stores as he could to thank the employees for selling his books.  He did it with little fanfare and no warning as he didn't want it to be about him.  He just wanted to take the time the time to visit and get to know those who were 'doing the work' for him.  That was the kind of guy he was.  You heard that from any and all that had meet him.

We lost a good man this past week, but it has been a privilege to read and sell his books over the years.  I hope he knew how much he has meant to us all.

Rest in Peace Mr. Morris.

Gilbert Morris

Dear Readers,

Today's Christian fiction writers owe a big debt to Gilbert Morris and other authors that led the way to what we now know as the Christian fiction market.  Gilbert Morris was one of the leaders in the market long before the Left Behind books brought the market into the spotlight.  The earliest I could find was a book published in 1984 - Delaney .  I could find little or no information on this book, but it actually looks like it might be an earlier addition of his Dani Ross Mysteries.  I can't tell for sure, but the cover reminds me of that, so I am going to make that conclusion (if you know differently let me know).

 

GIlbert is writing about what he does best.  History.  He sets The Crossing, book one of the The Last Cavaliers, during the Civil War.  He does an interesting job of mixing fictional characters and real historical figures throughout the story.  He uses Stonewall Jackson as one of his main characters and it is a different look at this bigger than life Civil War hero. 

Yancy is the other main character that he uses.  Yancy is a young man who is brought back to the world of the Amish when his father decides to return home after Yancy's mother passes.  Yancy is just not cut out to be in the Amish order.  He has trouble with all the rules and one of his biggest problems with the Amish is the "girly" straw hat the men are asked to wear.  He decides for the sake of his family to take a job elsewhere and ends up workng for Andrew Jackson.  Andrew sees that Yancy is fine military material and asks him is he would like to join the Virginia Military Academy.  The rest is, as they say, history (no pun intended).

I have read many different series by Gilbert.  Historical, contemporary, mystery, etc... and have liked them all.  I will admit that I did not read all 40 of the Winslow series.  I think I made it all the way up to the Civil War in that series, but I never finished it.  I loved the Dani Ross series and think that ended too quickly and the Cat's Pajama's series was loads of fun to read.  I enjoyed this book and I learned about what it was like during a part of America's history that has always interested me.  I think what I like the most about Gilbert's historical series is you can see and feel Gilbert's great love for his country and how he loves to tell everyone about how unique our story is.

For you history buffs this is a good read, but for anyone looking for an interesting story, this will fit that bill very easily.

Happy Reading