The Secret Diary Of Sarah Chamberlain

By Sarah Norkus

Description:

In the year 2008, fifteen year-old Emily
Grace (Em) discovers a secret hiding place
under a wooden plank in the attic of an
old house in Petersburg. It conceals a
150 year-old-diary belonging to Sarah
Chamberlain, the previous owner of the
house. Carefully turning to the last entry,
Em’s interest is piqued by the mention of
missing confederate gold and a murder
mystery. She slips the diary into the pocket
of her capris.
As she reads the diary, Em is touched
by Sarah’s deep love for her husband,
Robert. Emotionally, Em’s life is spinning
out of control and the diary is a welcome
distraction. Each day her faith slips further
and further away as she blames God for the
many trials and tribulations she has had to
endure. After rereading the last page and
Robert’s senseless murder, she has one more
reason to doubt God’s love for his creation.
Em slips the diary back in her pocket
planning to return it to the attic before
helping her mother clean the old house
in Petersburg. While scrubbing black
scuffmarks off the kitchen floor, Em has
an emotional meltdown airing her list of
grievances, including Robert’s murder,
before God. As she shouts that she
doesn’t believe he really exists, vertigo
suddenly hits with a vengeance and she
passes out. Regaining consciousness, Em
is dumbfounded; the kitchen has been
replaced by a nineteenth century parlor.

Book Takeaway:

That God allows us to go through struggles to make us stronger and strengthen our faith.

Why the author wrote this book:

I love history and time travel. I also wanted to write a story about a teen struggling with her faith in God. Many teens believes if God lets bad things happen to them he must not love them or maybe he doesn't exist at all. This is a story about how much God loves us even through the bad times.