To Find Her Place (Redemption’s Light)
In 1943 Toronto, Canada, young Jane Linder hurries from home to her job as acting director at the Children’s Aid Society. Following her divorce, and with her brother away fighting in the war, Jane is left alone and needs her job to care for her ailing mother. At an emergency meeting of the board, she is informed that they, having noticed some irregularities in the accounts, have hired an independent advisor, Garrett Wilder, for an assessment. While Jane wants to apply for the vacant managing director’s position, Garrett also desires that job. He cannot perform physical work due to a war injury and needs to contribute financially to save the family farm. Jane and Garrett work together to sort out the accounts’ issues, which initiates their romance. Just when Jane thinks that her problems are over and she has found her place in life, her ex-husband reappears with an exciting proposal.
Although this is the second novel of Susan Mason’s Redemption’s Light series, it is skillfully structured as a standalone. Mason notes the novel is based on actual events at the Toronto Children’s Aid Society, which she, living near Toronto, was able to research in some depth. The fictionalization of some of the real characters is well handled, and the introduction of fake accounting and bribery issues adds appeal to the plot. The norms of WWII-era Toronto are well portrayed, such as how the stigma of divorce would exclude a woman from promotion, and how adoption by an unmarried person met with disapproval. The problems of placing a delinquent child in foster care are depicted well. Although there are some unexpected plot twists in the story, it is mainly an inspirational novel, with frequent religious allusions that will appeal to readers of that category.
