~ I couldn’t be more proud of Linda Davis. You’ll find it hard to believe The Calling of Ella McFarland is a debut novel. Linda handles every nuance with the aplomb of a veteran, having honed her craft and polished her skills. It’s her first, but I’m confident it won’t be her last. – JERRY B. JENKINS, NY Times best-selling author of the Left Behind series and my personal favorite, Riven.
~ ~ ~
~ It’s easy to see why this book won First Place in Jerry Jenkins’ 
Operation First Novel. The characters captured my imagination right from the beginning and drew me into this wonderful story. Linda Brooks Davis is definitely a talented writer and I hope to see many more books from her! – ANN TATLOCK, 3-time Christy Award-winning author of Once Beyond a Time, Promises to Keep, All the Way Home and others
~ ~ ~
~ A masterful story of a woman who stumbles onto a need to empower women while reaching out in love and sacrifice to help other afflicted women. This debut novel shows the excellent craftsmanship of author Linda Davis. We’ll be seeing more of her!” – DIANN MILLS, 2-time Christy Award-winning author of Breach of Trust, Sworn to Protect, Deadly Encounter and others
~ ~ ~
The Story
~ And now, as a testament to perseverance, patience and Providence–
not to mention a publishing endorsement by Jerry Jenkins–is a beautiful new novel from a fantastic new writer:
The Calling of Ella McFarland, by Linda Brooks Davis — in short, I love this book, just as much as I love the story of this book …
Linda and I are both writers of historical fiction, but I am in total envy of her ease with the genre. The Calling of Ella McFarland hits on everything I hold important–the un-matched strength of women, the life-altering importance of education, and the incredible power that results when those two come together. The story is filled with women–all ages, all walks of life, all points of the moral compass–but Ella stands out as a determined heroine, keenly aware of the responsibility that comes with a gift. She is a teacher, strong, feisty, and determined. She embraces the concept that a sharecropper’s abused daughter is her sister-in-life and worthy of investment and education, not merely charity and pity. And of course, there’s a love story, too…where Ella proves herself to be delightfully strong and equal, quite fitting for a novel set within the throes of the suffrage movement.
The Cast of Characters
The story has quite a vast cast of characters, but Davis knits together an intricate, multi-level tale, leaving open threads for more. And I hope there are more–book after book as the saga plays out. It’s a book where the author and the characters share flesh and blood and story, and the reader gets folded right in.
So, if you’re looking for something a little grittier to off-set the glittering Christmas movies, I highly recommend The Calling of Ella McFarland. Linda Davis is a new, and very welcome voice on the Christian Historical Fiction shelf. I’m so happy to be there, right next to her!
– ALLISON PITTMAN, Christy Award-winning author of Stealing Home and numerous others
Read the entire review at http://bit.ly/2bX9HhM
~~~
~ The characters raced across the pages carrying the story with them. 
Some of the twists and turns surprised me, and Ms. Davis was able to bring them to a satisfying conclusion.”
– LENA NELSON DOOLEY, best-selling, award-winning author of the McKenna’s Daughters series and others
~~~
~ Davis demonstrates a talent for developing appealing characters with whom readers can connect … a top choice for those who read for character and enjoy a well-developed historical setting.
– LIBRARY JOURNAL
~~~
I love reviews like this:
I received this book as a gift and had intended for it to get me
through those sleepless nights with a newborn. Suffice it to say the newborn has yet to arrive and I finished all 357 pages in two days! I was enraptured by Ella’s fierce spirit, faith in God and passion for the underprivileged. Linda did an excellent job giving life to each character and successfully transported me back to the early 1900’s. Not only was it easy to read, I found myself deeply connecting with the characters of the book through the triumphs and trials of their faith. The end brought me to tears. Amazing read. Hope there is a second in the works!
And this:
This is a jewel-box of a book.
~~~
Thank you, readers who take the time to review my work. Reviews greatly appreciated on Amazon at amzn.to/1SNT8AD or on Goodreads at bit.ly/1RCKMgf.
