Book Review: The Rainwater Secret by Monica Shaw

- April 27, 2019

THE RAINWATER SECRET

Monica Shaw

Genre: Historical Fiction / Medical Missionaries Publisher: Self-Published Date of Publication: March 31, 2017

Number of Pages: 354

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The Rainwater Secret is a deeply moving, historical fiction novel about a woman who travels

to Africa to teach the leper children who were banished from their villages. Single and feeling there is nothing left for her in small-town England, Anna embarks on an adventure as a volunteer teacher with the Medical Missionaries of Mary. Life as Anna has known it is forever changed as she learns the culture that would banish its sick, disfigured, and crippled to the bush. Babies are left to die on roadsides, children are chased away to live by whatever means they can find. The aged are abandoned. Anna’s daily life is an adventure as she travels from one village to another across a hostile land with few passable roads, rickety bridges threatening to fall apart and casting occupants on the jagged rocks far below, and weather that turns a calm river into a roiling death trap. In spite of the trials, Anna also manages to find love and family in this godforsaken land.

Follow this adventure through disease, weather, strife, death, and determination to turn a few acres of land into a loving home for the outcast lepers of Nigeria.

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Wonderful. This book was simply wonderful all around. From the moment you pick it up and read, until the time you are on the last page, you simply will not want to put this interesting and attention grabbing book down. The author uses her words, descriptions and all-around narrative to elevate this already fascinating tale of her great aunt's life and takes it to the next level.

Even though this book is historical fiction, the characters felt real to me. There is a part where the Priest goes though a little something and I had so many feelings for him. And the main character, Anna, makes me want to be a better person. She makes question if I would be able to endure a life full of wonder, death and the abscence of toilets so that I could help make a difference in children's lives.

Along with the characters, the whole book makes you feel a rollercoaster of emotions. There are funny moments, like with Anna getting in trouble with one of the nuns. There are heart warming moments, like when Anna is teaching is her leper children, joyous moments like when the Pirest becomes a Bishop and sad moments, with all the unexpected deaths and even some scary times thrown in their. So many emotions, yet it still flows very well and th characters really process these emotions in a timely manner.

I also want to point out a small aspect that made me happy. As you come to know Anna, you know her desire to want a family, but she chooses to stay in her colony and ends up making the leper kids her family and that is just beautiful.

I think this is a spot on book, but if I could ask the author anything, it would be if any of these characters were real and if any of the events actually took place. It really intrigues me too see what was real and if some of the crazy stories were created from one of her aunts letters.

Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5. I highly recommend it and you can try to win your own copy for free by clickin on the giveaway below!

Monica Shaw is a native of Dallas, Texas where she has been a successful entrepreneur. She attended St. Thomas Aquinas, graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, and earned her Geology / Petroleum Engineering degree from UT Austin. Her debut novel, The Rainwater Secret, started off as a personal research project looking into the life of her great aunt who became a missionary teacher. Monica is married with 3 children.

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