I just finished reading The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson (NY: Crown Publishers, 2008). It is one of those books that I didn't want to end. Filled with intrigue, religious and cultural conflict, and two women's search for meaning in their lives, I couldn't put it down and just sat for a few moments contemplating it after I closed the last chapter.
Julia Lovat has been having an affair with her best friend's husband for several years. Then one night in a London restaurant, he gives her a parting gift, a simple book of embroidery, or so it seems. When Julia opens the book, she notices small writing throughout the pages. As she reads, she is taken in by the story of Cat, a woman who lived in seventeenth century Cornwall. Cat wrote of her trials as she was captured by Barbary corsairs and taken to Morocco as a slave. Captured by the story, Julia goes to Morocco to learn more about Cat's life and experiences. In Morocco, both women find themselves and love.
Along with telling the parallel stories of Julia and Cat, Johnson deals with the conflicts between Eastern and Western cultures, Islam and Christianity that existed in the seventeenth century, and that still exist today in the twenty-first century.
With vivid descriptions and winding paths, The Tenth Gift is beautifully written. As this book was recommended to me by the staff of Kent District Library (as part of their Let It Snow! winter reading program), I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to lose themselves in a story of love and journey of faith.
