Dean Hughes' "Sequel Series" Proves as Good as the First© Eric Jordan Jensen
Oct 23, 2001
If you fell in love with Dean Hughes? Children of the Promise series, you won?t want to miss the sequel series, Hearts of the Children. This set of books will continue the story of the Alexander and Bea Thomas family using the voices of ?the next generation? to describe how the family deals with the turbulent 1960s and ?70s. Although Hughes says the new books will be able to stand alone, he also writes that one of his interests in the upcoming novels is to study the ?way that the influence of a generation, or of a specific married couple, extends to its children, and then, to their children.?
The first volume of the new series, The Writing on the Wall, opens dramatically: Gene Thomas, the oldest child of Alex and Anna, comes home from church to hear a radio news report about the erection of a wall between East and West Berlin. Gene doesn?t trouble himself much with current events, but he knows that his Uncle Peter?s family lives in East Germany, and that they may now be stuck there permanently. Although the plight of Peter Stoltz concerns the Thomas family, their lives in America remain relatively unchanged. Gene tries to read the newspapers, but his attention is captured more by sports, school and a challenging young woman. His cousin, Kathy Thomas, is a year younger, but much more aware of what is going on in the world. In fact, the problems she sees around her?shaky politics, racial inequality and nuclear war--concern her so much that she can?t understand why her family seems oblivious to the threats around them. She vows that she will do something, despite the limits her parents place on her. Diane Hammond adores her older cousin Gene, and shares his oblivion to the goings-on of the world. Her concerns lie closer to home. Not only does she have her mother to please, but she also has a busy social life, and the attentions of a cute Californian who seems to be joining the Church just to please her. Far from the others in Utah, Hans Stoltz is only too aware of the turbulence in the world. He longs to escape from the rigors of Communism to the freedom his cousins enjoy in America. When all of his hopes for a bright future are dashed, Hans abandons his religion and his faith. Each of the young narrators tell different stories, but all of them struggle through similar trials. What emerges is a full story about family, faith and hope for a better future.
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