K. Victoria Chase is the author of From Across the Divide, an interracial romance that is set in Alabama during the 1960's. Besides differences in race, the couple in question must also traverse a divide in matters of faith.
Eric Montgomery has returned home after being away for five years. He's a bit of a prodigal, having lost faith in the Lord. He blames God for failing to save his mother from a fatal illness, and walked away from Him. In doing so, he stayed away from Alabama, not returning after he finished college, and went away to France for a few years. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to fill that God-shaped void with work, travel, or women. He decides to go home to assume responsibilities in his father's bank, a business that he will one day inherit.
Elnora (Elie) Brown is the best friend that Eric has left behind. She is delighted to have her childhood friend return, but is disturbed when she discovers that he has lost his faith. She wants to get her old Eric back, but besides seeing the differences in faith, it is becoming apparent that other things have changed between them: they are no longer children, and both are noticing a romantic attraction between a grown man and woman. Eric makes her heart race, but because he no longer believes, she must resist the temptation that he presents. Also, even if Eric believed, would he and Elie be able to have a romantic relationship in a society that won't accept one between a white man and a black woman?
I liked Elie. She is, in Eric's words, "feisty, passionate, (and) unyielding." She is earning a college degree so that she can become a teacher. She teaches at an unofficial school on the weekends to children who must work during the week in order to help support their families. She is involved in her church and in the equal rights movement. She's a law abiding citizen who loves the Lord.
Eric is, for lack of a better word, a rogue. He knows that Elie is attracted to him, and can't quite seem to stay away from her, even though she keeps turning him down. He's used to women falling down at his feet, so he's a bit out to sea as to how to court Elie. I didn't quite like it that he seemed to think that simply kissing her repeatedly to wear down her resistance was an acceptable mode of courting, but like I said, he's a rogue who needed to ask for advice from his father, Morgan, on what to do with his feelings for Elie. That was an interesting conversation. We discover that Morgan is all for Eric and Elie having a relationship, and that the Montgomery men have...egos when it comes to wooing women. Anyways, Eric gets it right; the biggest impediment between him and Elie is really his lack of faith.
I also found it interesting that while Morgan didn't have any problem with the idea of Eric and Elie being together, Elie's parents, Miss Hattie, the Montgomery's housekeeper, and Michael, one of Elie's "acceptable" suitors, did have issues with marrying out of one's race. They have their reasons, which seems to run the gamut of wanting to spare the younger people from prejudice and non-acceptance from both cultures, knowing what they perceive to "be their place," and from their own prejudices against the other culture. None of these reasons seemed to include one very significant thing which I suspect Morgan knows: that if something is of God, and if He wills it, He can make a way for it, even for something that people consider to be impossible, inconvenient, and offensive. This suspicion is because of something Morgan says to Eric when the son tells his father that the Browns don't approve of Eric as a suitor for Elie because he is white.
"I wasn't aware they felt this way about us."
"That I'm not good enough for their daughter?"
"No." The sadness in Morgan's eyes tore at Eric's heart. "That she isn't good enough for you."
When I read those lines, I was as surprised as Eric, who blinked in shock in the text. But then I realized that Morgan is right. Elie is good enough for Eric, but her parents want to protect her from the difficulties and prejudice that their union will bring, because we are talking about what society was like. At this point of the novel, they don't believe enough that if God has called Eric and Elie to be together, and that if Eric and Elie are firmly grounded in their identities as children of God, that they will be able to have a successful marriage in spite of any worldly opposition that may come their way.
I enjoyed reading this novel; I found it to be educational because of the history. I also found it to be romantic and fairly clean. I'm not sure if this novel is intended to be the start of a series, but if it is, I would love to find out what happens to Michael and Amanda, a woman who Eric turns away when he realizes that he wants Elie.
