Tulsa Tempest

Tulsa #1

by Lutz Norma Jean

When country girl Tessa Jurgen learns that her bootlegging father has promised her in marriage to a man she doesn’t love, she seeks refuge in the supposedly progressive boomtown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The years is 1921As governess to the children of an oil baron, Tessa is befriended by the black household servants, Chloe, Jasper, and Pole. Together they become a true family. But the rakishly handsome schoolteacher Gaven MacIntyre is also interested in forming a partnership with Tessa, despite his worry that she is “overly friendly” to black people.Racial tensions remain at a simmer until Jasper and a friend are accused of “accosting” a white girl. Will Tessa stand up for what she knows is right, even if it means losing Gaven? Or will she be drawn into Tulsa’s tempest of prejudice and hatred?

Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The year was 1921; the place was Tulsa, Oklahoma during the Tulsa race riots. The story centered on a nineteen year old woman, Tessa, who fled to Tulsa to avoid marrying one of her father’s drunken buddies.

Tessa is not at all prejudice and she proves it time and again. Her strong beliefs rub off on a man she comes to love.

While I enjoyed the story and the history, I felt there wasn’t enough action and conflict for such a violent and tumultuous time in history. I also found it difficult to establish and maintain Tessa as a nineteen year old, as she was repeatedly described and perceived as much younger throughout the story.

A Christian tone was sprinkled throughout Tulsa Tempest, but not in a preachy way. Tulsa Tempest is an approachable way to be introduced to the Tulsa riots of 1921.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reminds me a lot of a Grace Livingston Hill novel. There is a simple, sweet romance (too fast-moving, though), lustful bad men, a brave heroine, a somewhat weak male love interest who changes at the end (seeming a little sudden), children who become friends with the heroine, and the friendly black workers who befriend the heroine. She stands up for them in their time of trouble, and the riots come near the end of the book. Has some worth-while moments and was just the type of easy-reading I was looking for, but it's nothing earth-shattering and is Arminian in theology.