Sunshine Jane

by Anne Warner

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2010

Reviews

[Katrina Roets]

It's not often that one reviews a book written in 1914, but this is a book that I actually had on my shelf. I actually had to go to a rare books site to find this synopsis for all of you:

Interesting novel of a young woman "whose religion was quite the most modern of all the New Thought creeds", who nursed sick souls. But when her teachings interrupts the status quo of the village, some trouble is stirred up. "But underlying all the droll fun is a sound and helpful doctrine of optimism and faith".

For me this was a fun read. It's not heavy and moves at a decent pace. Jane herself comes into town almost as a teacher and ends up a student before the book ends. I think, for those looking, there are some lovely life lessons involved and I just have to say that I adored the characters of her two aunts. If you happen to come across a copy, pick it up. You might just enjoy it. If you're in more of a hurry, there is a Kindle version and I believe that it was part of Project Gutenberg.

[Lucy]

I love this book. I found it randomly at a thrift store and proceeded to recommend the digital version to anyone I could think of.

Jane is a "Sunshine Nurse" and wants to tend to her invalid aunt to allow the caretaker, her other aunt/the invalid's sister, to get away for a bit. As soon as Jane appears, the quiet little town she's in begins to be shaken up. Jane encourages people to be more positive, but in a deeper way than just "cheer up" - she offers help, does chores, listens to people, and generally does anything she can to make others' lives better. This results in a lot of betterment for the entire town, and eventually herself as well.

I was mostly touched that such an old book could have such an elegant, timely message; whatever you're going through, whatever your needs are, good can come of it. And while you wait for your good to arrive, you can help others' good to come to them. The gift of service, of love to a neighbor, is timeless.

[Conrad Altan]

I had high hopes for this book and it started out great. The characters were cheerful and purposeful and some hilarious malapropisms kept popping up. The references to religion were uplifting without being “preachy”. Then about 2/3 through the male romantic lead went on a misogynistic rant and also said this: “I loathe this modern institution limping along with its burden of carefully fed and tended idiots and invalids and babies, better dead.” Later, after being educated by the heroine he had something of a change of heart, at least about the struggles of women in their modern world, but he never acknowledged how wide of the mark his previous views had been. I did finish the book but it was a sad struggle after that.