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by Patricia Clark Blake (Author)
A comely wife...A promising homestead...The esteem of his neighbors...An unshakeable faith in God. What else could a man want? He didn't know, but he believed he was called for more. If it meant giving up his homestead, he had to find out how God wanted him to serve. Patrick MacLayne (Mac to his friends) is a blessed man, but a frustrated man. In the eighteen months since March 17, 1857, he married a good woman, established a large homestead on Crowley's Ridge, satisfied his father's wish that he start a family, and earned the respect of his community. This being true, why was Mac so restless and frustrated? Didn't he have everything an Arkansas homesteader could want? The answer was simple. He never wanted to be a homesteader. Mac felt called to something more. Something beyond Shiloh... Before Laurel, he wasn't tied to a place.... He loved Arkansas, but the large state offered many opportunities. Yet, for his wife, their homestead was home, a place of security. She wanted to remain at Shiloh for the rest of her days. Mac built a fine homestead, one he held a great deal of pride in, but the building was the challenge. Now that he has met that goal, he knows his call lies beyond Crowley's Ridge. During their journey across Arkansas, an elderly immigrant told Laurel she would never be truly wed until she and her husband "walked the same path." Mac fears their hopes for the future are so divergent now, they will never find a common path to share. In Beyond Shiloh: A Story of an Arkansas Family, Mac and Laurel struggle to build a life together. Their lives are even more complicated as Mac becomes involved in the politics of their state, and Arkansas is divided by the growing talk of Civil War. Their hope of establishing a family depends on their faith--the foundation they used to begin their life journey together. The one thing they both agree on, regardless of many other areas of dispute, they love each other, and they want a family. With God's help, they intend to build a home. Perhaps, it will even be at Shiloh!
