Known among Christian readers as a writer of historical novels, Rivers has written a novel that is both historical and contemporary as it tells the stories of two women in different eras. Sierra Madrid lives in contemporary times and Mary Kathryn McMurray, her pioneer ancestor, came west across the Oregon Trail. The two are linked when Sierra receives Mary Kathryn's diary and her quilt, which have been passed down through the generations.
Sierra's story hinges on an unexpected move she has to make from her home town of Windsor, California to Los Angeles after her husband takes a new job. A full-time wife and mother of two school-age children, Sierra cannot adjust and her marriage gradually erodes. The ministry of a local church helps Sierra learn that she must put God at the head of all things.
As she is going through this period of anguish, salvation, and renewal, she is reading her ancestor's diary entries. Mary Kathryn had spunk and a sense of humor. Starting with her teen years, she also dealt with incredible losses--her mother, a brother, a daughter, a husband, their homeplace. Yet she also came to a saving faith when she learned to trust the Lord.
Rivers believes that all her novels start with a question she has faced in her own life. In The Scarlet Thread, it is the meaning of God's sovereignty. That sounds a bit stiff for a novel, but Rivers never writes in theological jargon. She lets her characters and the events work out the answers in engrossing yet believable terms. In this case, both women learn that the worst things that happen offer the greatest opportunity for learning to trust the Lord.
We asked Rivers if she wrote the stories of Sierra and Mary Kathryn simultaneously as one story or if she wrote the stories separately and then put them together.
"I wrote them together," she replied. "I was a little worried about how that would turn out, but I wanted to say that though we may live in very different times and face different circumstances, the one basic question we all face is whether or not to put God first in our lives."
One of the interesting things about The Scarlet Thread is Rivers's blending of different cultures. Sierra's husband Alex is Hispanic, and the use of well-known Spanish phrases (te amo, por favor, gracias, querida) reminds us of his background and the potential for conflicts when differing backgrounds collide. In Mary Kathryn's story, Rivers has given readers a picture of Native American culture when settlers first came to California.
Rivers carefully governs her time and skill as a part of her Christian response to being a writer. She writes only one book a year at the rate of about four pages a day (a little more if it's really flowing), but she quits when her writing time is up. She feels she has less control as a Christian, but she doesn't want writing to take over time that is meant to be lived for God. "An author can lose her way if too much is written too quickly," she says.
That led us to ask about her daily schedule. "My husband wakes me at 5:30 each morning and we share some time together before he leaves for work. Then I have an hour of quiet devotion and Bible reading by myself. I write from 8 to 12, have a bite of lunch, and then go to work in our family business."
Her three children are in their teen and young adult years, and there's a lot of coming and going around the house. Rivers is also getting first-hand knowledge about new love and blending families due to the upcoming wedding of her daughter.
When we asked Rivers about the central message of this compelling book, she answered quickly and surely. "There is always hope. People tend to give up or say there isn't any point in trying to work for something by themselves. One person is all that's necessary. When one person relies on the Lord and doesn't react as the world does, it will make a difference. I know."
That sure belief shines through The Scarlet Thread and makes us eager for her next book, The Atonement Child. We may have to wait a while, given Rivers's priorities, but it will be worth it.
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