Rorey's Secret

Country Road Chronicles #1

by Leisha Kelly

The Worthams and Hammonds are as close as two families could be, sharing almost everything on their Depression-era Illinois farms. So when a raging fire breaks out and threatens to destroy the Hammond farm, both families are affected by the tragedy. But how did the fire start? Several of the kids know the truth, but no one is talking. As the families try to overcome aching loss, misplaced blame, troubled relationships, and an upsetting secret, they once again find themselves clinging desperately to their trust in God. In this compelling tale of faith, hardship, and community, acclaimed author Leisha Kelly continues the much-loved story of the Wortham family, who with courage and determination discover the power of forgiveness to restore and heal.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Historical, Romance, Ebooks

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

About the author

aka L.A. Kelly

A resident of Clayton, Ill., Kelly authored 11 books, including the best-selling historical fiction series centered around the Wortham and Hammond families—published by Revell/Baker Publishing Group. Her most recent book, The House on Malcolm Street, was published by Revell in September 2010.

Kelly, who home-schooled her two children, served as children's ministry director and youth minister at her family's church.

On January 25, 2011, Leisha and her son, Justice, were killed in a traffic accident.

Reviews

[Nichole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book but not great either. It was slow and seemed to have hardly told a story by the time it was done. While I enjoyed the characters and setting, the lack of real story to keep me involved was the hard part.

[Shari Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Worthams and Hammonds are close friends and neighbors, sharing almost everything on their Illinois farms during the Depression era. When a fire breaks out and threatens to destroy the Hammond farm, both families are affected by it. Was it an accident or set on purpose? Some of the kids know, but no one is talking. The fire sets events into motion that affects each member of both families differently.


This story takes place about 7 years after the last book of The Wortham Family series, (Julia's Hope, Emma's Gift, Katie's Dream) and is the first book of the Country Road Chronicle series. If you haven't read The Wortham Family series first, I would recommend that before starting this series, because it's very helpful to know the back story of the characters, and helps you to understand their thoughts and actions better.


My only quibble about this story was that one of the characters who had injuries from the fire seemed to recover a little too quickly to be believable, but overall, it was an "easy going" read and great "feel good" type of story.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books for Ms. Kelly. Was so sorry to find out that she and her 16 year-old son had passed. I will miss reading books from this author that I came upon by chance from her first book of Julia's Hope when I started back going to the library just a few weeks back. Such great books, characters, story lines.

[Beverly Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope I can find more books like these.

[Barbara Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rorey’s Secret is the fourth of Leisha Kelly’s series about the Wortham family, set during and just after the Depression. The fourth through sixth books are called the Country Road Chronicles and take place a few years after the first three, when the Wortham children are teenagers.

This book begins with mom Julia Wortham in the kitchen preparing a birthday dinner for one of their neighbor boys. Several of the Hammond’s ten children are over visiting the Worthams at any given time. The youngest is trying to help Julia fry chicken, and making a mess. Just as another Hammond child tries to bring newborn kittens in the house, the oldest drives up with his wife in labor and very active toddler diving in Julia’s cabinets because he likes the bang all the pans make as they fall out. As Julia’s husband and son come in from working, Julia sends them off for the doctor.

But the doctor can’t be reached, and Julia reluctantly plays midwife. Somehow after several hours, the baby is born, everyone’s fed, and several of the Hammond family go home.

As Julia and her husband, Samuel, prepare to drop into bed, they notice a strange glow in the distance: a fire over at the Hammonds’. Sam and his son and daughter drive over to help: Julia stays behind because the new mother and baby are still at her house for the night.

Sarah, the Wortham’s daughter, tries to keep the younger Hammond children safely away from the barn’s flames, but ten-year-old Bertie dashes away into the barn out of concern for the calves. Sarah alerts her father, who runs after Bertie to bring him out. Then the roof caves in.

Both Bertie and Sam are pulled to safety, but both are injured, Sam seriously. His son takes both of them back to the Wortham’s house and goes to try to find the doctor again. Julia, worried sick, tries to help them the best she can.

Inexplicably, several of the Hammonds blame middle son Franky for the fire. In the previous books there has been a subplot involving him. He seems to have a learning disability: he can’t learn to read no matter how much he wants to. He can do math in his head, but not on paper. Of course, not much was known about such then, and his schoolmates and even his father think he’s stupid. Franky is also the most dreamy, sensitive, and spiritual of the bunch. If he had started the fire, he’d be the first to own up to it. There also seems to be some tension between Franky and his teenage sister, Rorey, but neither will open up about it.

Rorey, for her part, is being cagey and aloof. The bulk of the book focuses on the tension between Rorey, Franky, and the rest of the two families as the cope with the aftermath of the fire. When Rorey tells a part of her secret to Sarah, then Sarah’s in a quandary as to whether to keep her promise not to tell.

The point of view rotates from chapter to chapter between Julia, Sarah, and Franky. I could identify a lot with Julia, worrying about her husband, feeling overwhelmed with all the people and issues, wanting to set things straight between Franky and his father. She struggles to trust God and seek wisdom. But she makes a good point here:

Somewhere I’d heard that the first time a young person does something really bad, a significant bit of their future and the choices they make rest upon the kind of response they get. I prayed our response to Rorey would be what she needed (p. 229).

I loved the first couple of books in the series. All the chaos in the beginning of this one nearly made my head spin. Still, life is like that sometimes, and that’s one of the hardest times to maintain trust in the Lord. I liked the way this one worked out in the end and what everyone learned along the way.

[jimtown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This fourth book in the Country Roads Chronicles series is the least enjoyable of the four. The story started with so much going on at once that it was almost stressful to read. 3/4 of the book is so full of worry and indecision that it ruined the storyline which was told in the alternating voices of mother Julia and daughter Sarah. At the end, neighbor Franky also told parts of the story. Julia's parts were particularly annoying as she worried over everything. The story centered on the accidental fire that burned down the barn of the Wortham's close neighbor, George Hammond. The Hammond family has had it's troubles over the course of the other books in the series. In this one the interactions of the families is shown in a little more detail. One thing I liked was that the author made it immediately clear who was telling the story by starting a new chapter with the persons name. I don't know if there are more of this series out but I think I've about had my fill of it now.

[Valarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning was a bit cumbersome to get through - too many unknown characters getting thrown at you & not sure if they were important enough to the story to remember. Then the constant worrying by Julia was a bit annoying - no, he's not okay & if you wait 2 minutes and ask again it's going to be the same answer. Geesh! I did like Sarah & her character development as well. Didn't realize it was a Christian book until I got more into the story & then I just muddled through it. It wasn't a bad book, but I didn't like how most resolutions happened in the last few pages without really giving a good explanation. Everybody just had a change of heart & that was it. I won't be reading any more in this series.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are like slurping warm old-fashioned chocolate pudding. They go down real good.

[Morag · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book needs a lot of patience and attention. I'm not even half way through the first chapter and these are the characters already introduced:

Willy Hammond; Emma Grace / Emmie; Emma Graham; Teddy Willis; Franky;
Elvira Post; Samuel; Joe; Lizbeth; Ben; Sam; Thelma; Georgie; Bert; Mrs Wortham; Harry; Mr Wortham; Sarah; Katie; Harry; Georgie; Delores Pratt; Rorey; Robert; Dr Howell; George; Wilametta; Kirk; George Hammond; William; Juli; Berty.

Some of them may be the same person, some are named after others (Samuel and Sam maybe?) - it's not clear. Some are mentioned without context of their relationship to the character in focus. Life's too short to wade through this.

[Mandee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book

Enjoyed this book easy, good, nice read with a good Christian message too. I would Recommend it for most ages

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but

This should be book 3. I read book 1 and Emma and Ms Hammonds were alive. I feel I missed much. Elizabeth's wedding and who is Kate?

[Lavonne Leverett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Rorey's Secret

I couldn't a this book down once I started it . When it was bedtime I couldn't sleep until I do dishes it. Read it you will be glad you did.

[Samantha Cornwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has a good story to it... I found it to have a really, really, slow start, but it was full of God's truth.

[brenda morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Christian fiction

I had a hard time putting it down. I wish I'd read Julia's Hope first though. I liked the family dynamics and the different perspectives of the characters.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are full of heartache and internal struggle that can make it heavy to read. I’m attached to the characters and want to know what happens, but there is a sense of hopelessness sometimes!

[Sherry Hershberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5 stars

[Heidi Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Keri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow book.Seemed like it was going no where.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the continuation of the 2 families, in the start of this new series. I read this via KU.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my new favorite series of books. Oh how I came to love these two families who eventually merged into one. Each book in this series teaches strong Christian principles without becoming preachy. I love the lesson of learning to trust in the Lord regardless of the circumstances or how hard life is treating you. Not only did I love the lessons but I came to love each of these characters with all their flaws. I am only saddened that there will be no more stories of the Wortham family. Now all these years after this book was first published it still stands strong and for me it's as good as any of the "great American novels". I am sure that the Lord met Leisha and said "Well done my child!"

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had not read the previous books in the series so it was a bit confusing at the beginning until I got all the characters into place. (A list of characters would be helpful.) This is very light easy reading. At 1st I thought it wouldn't hold my interest but it turned out to be a little break from more serious reading. It was a window into rural middle American during the late 1930's. I would be bored by a steady diet of such fare, but it was a nice change of pace.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another great book involving the Wortham and Hammond families in rural Illinois during the 1930-1940's. This is the first book in the second series. Both series deal with the same primary characters.

I realized today that these stories remind me of the tv program, The Waltons, which I have always loved.

In my opinion, the only difference is that the books have an extreme focus on Christianity.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like all the books Leisha Kelly wrote about these families, this one is well-written and had an interesting plot. And yet, due to the high levels of worry and stress the characters were dealing with (and my deep dislike of some of the characters--especially Rorey and her father) I found it difficult to enjoy the read. Still, I know I'll read the next book in the series--because I have liked the majority of the previous ones.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bulk of the narrative of this book is unusually packed into one harried weekend, which means you learn about each character's point of view in a lot of depth. That strength was also a weakness, though. I had a hard time figuring out how each narrator was related to the whole because of the constantly shifting perspectives.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fourth in a series by Leisha Kelly. In this one Sarah Worthington's best friend Rorey Hammond has shared a secret with her and asked her not to tell. But did Rorey's secret have something to do with the Hammond's barn burning down. Sarah has to decide whether she should break her promise or keep it.

I enjoy this series written in the setting of the Great Depression.

[Teresa Merriman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book to read by this author. I really loved Rorey's Secret! I enjoyed getting to know the people of the book. It is the first in the series, but there is a series before it that introduces the families. I am looking forward to going back and reading that series before going to the next in this one.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational book about a couple of families in 1930 rural America. I love reading about the way of life then versus now. I especially love reading about how faithful these families were when times were much harder then versus now. Everyone needs a family like the Wortham's in their life.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly the most obvious book I have ever read. The characters were two-dimensional and unlikeable. Maybe this would have been better if I read the previous series but as it was I didn't empathize with anyone which made for very dry reading.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard book for me to read, mainly because of my dislike for the title character. Again, Leisha Kelly has written a compelling story about the providence of God and the need for and power of forgiveness.

[Tamara]

I really started out enjoying this book but it just kept going no where, very, very slowly and I felt I was wasting my time. I have so many books to read and just did not want to take any more time with this one, so I stopped reading it at around page 147.