Crossing the Line by Elle Knowles

Crossing the Line is a touching book written by Elle Knowles.

Helena is having trouble with Jim, her husband of thirty years. He seems to be always unavailable for her and is spending too much time with his associate. With three grown up children, a granddaughter and another grandchild on the way, Jim and Helena have too much to lose, so, Helena tries her best to pretend that everything is alright with their marriage by always justifying Jim’s unacceptable behavior.

However, things get from bad to worse when Helena discovers questionable transactions in their bank account and starts digging for more evidence of Jim’s wrongful actions.

This is a story about a strong woman’s attempt to save her marriage. This is a book about family, love and friendship among others. The author successfully depicts how far a woman would go to protect the most important thing in her life, her family. The plot, though not extraordinarily original, is eye-opening. It is touching and moving and some readers may find it relatable.

The author creates an admirable protagonist in Helena. She is the epitome of a strong, determined and independent woman. Her strength keeps her family for as long as she could while her determination leads her to the truth and sets her free.

The writing is generally spontaneous making the book an easy read. However, I find the pacing a little slow and the narrative too detailed that some parts sound unnatural. Moreover, there are some misspelled words (like then instead of than and Alley instead of Allie) though only very few are still noticeable.

Still, I enjoyed this book and I find Helena a memorable character.

Congratulations to Elle Knowles (@knowleselle) on such a touching book. For more books by the author, click HERE.

Coffee-Drunk or Blind by Elle Knowles

Coffee-Drunk or Blind: An Alaskan HomesteadingAdventure is a poignant book by Elle Knowles. It is a memorable account of her family’s courage to try homesteading in the, then, newly admitted state of Alaska. It is a compilation of letters written by the author’s mother, Helen Knowles, and some short narratives by the author and her siblings as they recount their own memories of that specific time in their lives so many years ago.

In June 17, 1959 at 6am, with only $1000 and a credit card, Vernon and Helen Knowles together with their four young children Debbie, Naomi, Lindy and Chip, began their journey in their ‘two bedroom house trailer behind a truck, with a camper built onto the bed’ from Oakdale, Louisiana towards Alaska to take advantage of the Alaskan Homestead Act. After 4040 miles and several motor troubles, the family finally arrived in Alaska in July 1, 1959 at 8:50 pm.

This is a memorable, touching, inspiring, entertaining and sometimes amusing story of a family’s courage, love, and faith in themselves and in each other. The book is a chronological presentation of letters written by Helen Knowles mostly to her sister-in-law Letaine. I, personally, attribute the success of this book to these letters. They are thoroughly detailed and vividly descriptive in their accounts of the family’s life and situation in the wilderness.

Halfway through the book, I realized why the author worked hard to complete this book. This is not just a simple compilation of their memorable time in a faraway place. This is their legacy, and reading it is a kind of time travel, a journey in time and place where people dig their own well, where having a telephone connection, even only with a few people, is a reason to be excited, where reading a book to the children is the only form of amusement and where a child wakes up and sees a moose in the front yard.  Undoubtedly, the Knowles experienced hardships in Alaska but those same hardships made them what they are now.

At the end of the book, I felt jealous and envious of the Knowles. I envy them for their adventures, but most importantly I envy them for their memories.

Despite a few typo errors and a couple of dangling modifiers, I enjoyed the book a lot. Congratulations to Elle Knowles (@knowleselle) on such a great book. For more of the author’s books, visit Finding MyselfThrough Writing.