Category: Mainstream Publisher: Freelance with Copyhound
ISBN-10: 1976183316
Type: Fiction
Pages: 272
Copyright: July 2014
ISBN-13: 9781976183317
Price: $5.99 (eBook)
The Rubies Family Saga stirs our hearts as it reveals a provocative triangle of love, sorrow, and the bitter consequence of sin. This powerful story uncovers the lives of four women whose destiny is seriously altered due to the unforgivable sin of one of them.
Book One - The Curse Begins
Based upon the life of a real person, the irony revealed in the Rubies Family Saga is one of which many of us live through each day of our own existence.
The Biblical scriptures reveal the sad reality that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. What we bring into the lives of others often comes back with a vengeance into our own life.
Kaja Ericsen is determined to marry whomever she wishes regardless of the warnings she receives from her parents. Her impetuous behavior ends in a deathbed curse from her father, a curse that will follow Kaja and all her descendants.
Kaja’s consequence of disobedience is one that cannot be ignored. After being betrayed by her husband, she leaves her two daughters behind in Norway to travel to America intending to make a new life and return for them after she has earned their passage.
She is devastated when she discovers the unbearable living conditions in the shabby farmhouse of her employer, Hans Berglund. His oldest child, a son, becomes an instant companion to Kaja but an insolent and troublesome daughter does everything she can to destroy Kaja’s life.
The unthinkable happens when Kaja is raped by her employer and conceives his child. All hope for returning to Norway for her children is shattered.
After the loss of her children in Norway, Kaja put all her hopes and dreams into her daughter Marty. Again, those dreams soon become a nightmare of doubt and confusion.
Just as Kaja’s life is filled with disappointment and pain, Marty soon faces the reality of death and the horror of abuse that follows.
Marty too marries against Kaja’s wishes and is so blinded by the love of an abusive spouse that she fails to recognize the suffering of a little girl taking place right before her very eyes. The sin of disobedience turns in to the sin of omission and little child is left behind to suffer alone.
The story of Rubies is told by Kaja's granddaughter, Stacey, who is convinced that her grandmother's curse has destroyed her life as well as her sanity.
This is a book you will not be able to put down as you read the incredible tragedy that continues to unfold as more of Kaja’s punishment is revealed.
Excerpt
Chapter Two
Norway 1913
“Why must you go away, Momma?” Mary’s lips quivered, her eyes brimming with tears.
Kaja knelt and pulled the little girl close. Stroking the child's hair, she whispered, “Momma loves you and Janna more than life itself, but we no longer have money to buy food and soon they will take away our home.”
Tears flowed down Mary’s cheeks. “But we can all live with Grandmama.”
Kaja choked back a sob and took a deep breath. Living with Berglet was intolerable, but how could she explain this to a child. Perhaps if Kaja had had a sibling, things would have been different. She was thankful Mary and Janna had each other.
Even at only six years of age, Mary was the mirror image of her mother. Her large brown eyes spoke her every thought, her lustrous black hair adorned an olive skin as soft as rose petals. Mary’s physical appearance alone was not all that reminded Kaja of herself, but her strong will and lust for life.
Four-year-old Janna was the image of Gunnar. Her blond curls nestled along her round face when she smiled. The fair skinned beauty was too young to know what was happening.
“You and Janna will live with Grandmama for just a little while, and then you will come to America and live with me.” Kaja spoke softly.
“Why can't we go with you now, Momma? I don’t want to stay here without you or Papa.”
Kaja wiped Mary's tears with her fingertips. “Papa has gone far away and I must prepare a place for us to live and then I will send for you, I promise.” She placed a kiss on each side of the child's face and pulled her close.
Sobbing, Mary cried in her mother's arms.
“Please, Momma, don't go. I will hate you forever.”
“Hush, Mary. You must not speak so. You must be brave for little Janna. I need you to take care of her for me.”
Mary sniffed back her tears and rubbed her puffy eyes with her tiny fists.
Berglet had stood by quietly but now spoke. “And this pain is what you want for your children?”
Kaja stood up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “It is not pain I wish for them but a good life, Momma.
Gunnar has been gone three years and there is no work here for me. America is the only way.”
Berglet crossed her arms. “You will leave your children and go to live with a stranger? What will happen if he does not keep his word?”
“Then I will find a way to return to Norway. I must make my own way for my children. Please, Momma, you can come with the children to America.”
Berglet clicked her tongue. “I am happy in my own land.” Sighing, she pursed her lips. “I do not agree with your decision, but I will keep the children.”
***
Three days out of port, a terrible storm besieged the ship. Huge waves crashed into its sides while hungry sharks circled the waters. Only days before, Kaja had stood on the deck of the Lusitania waving good-bye to her children.
Now, nauseated, and frightened, she crouched in a corner, hugging her knees, and praying for God's forgiveness and mercy. All she could think about was her promise to her papa on his deathbed. His words tore at her soul. You will not marry against my wishes. The musician is not a good man.
But she had married against Papa’s wishes. Hadn’t she paid yet for the sin of long ago? Why was her love for Gunnar so wrong?
Tears ran down her face. It had been eight long years yet the memory of Berget’s anger was still fresh in her mind.
“I make the best home I can for you since your papa died,” Berglet said, shaking her finger. Just because you are eighteen you know what a man wants? Your papa did not approve of this cheap entertainer!”
Kaja brushed aside her tears and sighed. Momma had been right. Finding Gunnar in bed with another woman was a sin she would never forget or forgive. While the band's young singer sat in the bed, clutching the sheets over her naked breasts, Gunnar had only shrugged his shoulders in silent resignation. He didn’t even try to stop Kaja from leaving and had never returned home again.
Things would be different in America. She would find a new life and she would never think about Gunnar again.
Professional Reviews
Book One - It Was Amazing
“I just read book one of Rubies – OMG! It was amazing. Can’t wait to read them all.”
Will Read Them All
Book was wonderful. Can't wait for the next one.
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Reviews for "Rubies - The Curse Begins"
Reviewed by Debbie Brandt
2/7/2018
"for, I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me," Exodus 20:5b
I really enjoyed this story and it reminded me of the bible verse from Exodus where God talks about punishing the children for the sin of the fathers. When I was younger I always thought that was so unfair. Why should I be punished for what my father did?? Now as I am older (and wiser maybe) I can understand and appreciate how my actions can affect my children both positively and negatively. It is so hard to be a parent knowing that you can never be perfect and yet hoping and praying your imperfections and sins don't affect your children.
I think this book wonderfully portrays how our actions have consequences. We need to really pray through our decisions before turning them into actions.
I thought this book was well written. I think that the ending was perfectly placed as I truly want to know more. I want to read the next book in this saga.
When we become become parents we cannot begin to realize the depth and impact our actions will bring upon our children and future generations.
Abuse comes is all shapes and sizes: emotional and physical.
Torment and pain can go on for year and years and seem to be never-ending.
In the Rubies Family Saga, one woman faces a curse brought about by her own disobedience. That curse follows her generations, leading them down a pathway of pain and suffering.
The Bible says the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children and this appears to be relevant in the Rubies Family Saga.
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