Amazon recently compiled a list of “Great Reads for Downton Abbey Fans,” and to my delight, included Promise Me This!

Watching Seasons I and II of Downton Abbey was like watching the research for Promise Me This race across my television screen: England and France in living color.

I was mesmerized by the lavish costumes, the wonderfully drawn characters—upstairs and down, the period furnishings, the lighting, the music, the menus, the minute details of history.

Each week I was left hanging, with bated breath, eager for the next installment. If Downton Abbey had been a book, I’d have called it “a real page turner.”

Downton Abbey and Promise Me This both began with the Titanic—the first with it’s sinking, and the second with the ship’s sea trials from Belfast.

Both stories portrayed a microcosm of Edwardian society. In Downton Abbey we were enthralled with the aristocratic Crawley family above stairs, ranked staff below stairs, and a plethora of farmers and laborers outside the great house. In Promise Me This the stage was set aboard the Titanic, with Michael and Owen swapping Owen’s bunk in third class, pouring over seed and slips and roots bound for the new world, and separated from the classes above them, from the crew, even from those laboring in the bowels of the ship.

Both stories cast their complex characters upon the sea of life. Both faced the tragedies of their time—Titanic’s foundering and the resulting loss of life; WWI rationing, the trenches, maiming, and the nerve-wracking uncertainty of waiting–for news, for the end of war; the rigors of the Spanish flu epidemic.

In both stories the characters grew, changed, and forged new realities for themselves and for their microcosm of society.

Happily, both stories saw their rich characters grow in faith, renew hope and determination, experience  romance and unbridled joy long after they feared opportunities for  bliss were lost to them.

Yes, there are similarities. I hope Promise Me This fulfills Amazon’s recommendation for you, and that it keeps you turning pages.

Most especially, I hope that you see in the story what I saw—a picture of Christ’s love for the world, and our response to that love. That is my heart’s desire!

**Cynthia Herron is our winner for the free give away of Promise Me This–Congratulations, Cynthia!!!  Enjoy the read!

I look forward to meeting you here, in the garden, next week.  Meanwhile, how about a fragrant cup of Lady Grey tea . . . Sugar?  Lemon or Cream?

What intrigues you most about Downton Abbey?

God’s blessings,