The Way of Women

by Lauraine Snelling

On the verge of Mt. St. Helens’ historic eruption, three women must face the two to search for their missing husbands; the third, to rediscover her life…After a local mountain becomes a deadly and imminent threat, three strikingly different women become linked in a desperate mission. Children’s author Katherine Sommers is searching for her depressed husband, David, and their son Brian, camping together on Mt. St. Helens’ tumultuous north slope. Mellie Sedor seeks her husband, Daniel, who has taken a logging job to pay for their daughter’s chemotherapy. Fashion photographer Jen Stockton joins Cowlitz County Sheriff Frank McKenzie, himself the victim of a brutal loss, in his quest to evacuate the awakening volcano.Jen came to the mountain in an effort to recover the peace she experienced as a child. Instead, she finds destruction and heroism, tragedy and friendship. When Women Strive Together, They Can Face Even the Unthinkable. Written by best-selling and award-winning author Lauraine Snelling, The Way of Women celebrates the resilience and strength of women, both individually and collectively, in the face of extraordinary crisis.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Adult, Contemporary, Novels

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 22, 2004

About the author

Award-winning and bestselling author Lauraine Snelling has over 80 books published with sales of over 4.5 million. Her original dream was to write horse books for children. Today, she writes adult novels about real issues centered on forgiveness, loss, domestic violence and cancer in her inspirational contemporary women’s fiction titles and historical series, including the favorite, Blessing books about Ingeborg Bjorklund and family.

Lauraine enjoys helping others reach their writing dreams by teaching at writer’s conferences across the county. She and her husband Wayne have two grown sons, and a daughter in Heaven. They live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a Basset named Sir Winston ob de Mountains, Lapcat, and “The Girls” (three golden hens).

Reviews

[Melody Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was so hard to read because we all have went through so much lately but you can’t put it down because you want to know how it ends.

[Amy]

Good but expected a bit more of a conclusion to the missing persons at the end.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did because it's set where I live. It's an interesting look at the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980 and its effect on three women. Some of the local details and place names are incorrect, and this is almost unforgivable--the author should have done better research.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover design John Hamilton and cover image from Photonica
This book focuses on the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State and follows the events in the lives of three women and the men they love. Chapters go back and forth between the three women, each facing traumatic events. Their loved ones are among the missing. Descriptions of life in the temporary shelters which house the displaced, anxious relatives as well as a hospital setting for one of the characters.
Short Prologue and Epilogues sections feature an anonymous “visitor” who has returned to ponder some reminiscent thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the event.
Interspersed throughout the book are some odd little chapters titled simply “The Mountain” where she (the Mountain) ponders the motives of the Creator. A nice book with fast-paced story line and underlying Christian values of hope and community.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 women are brought together because of a very challenging event. Each has long held emotional issues they need to confront and work through if the are going to be able to live fully productive lives. The characters are well done and I felt like I knew them and as they each were challenged to confront their issues and work through them they find the strength and courage from the each other and God to make those changes.
I love stores where people gain strength from friends and from God to stretch and grow into better people!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is set during the eruption of Mt. St.Helens in 1980. A friendship is formed by three women who meet during that disastrous time. It is well written, but at times a little depressing until some good news breaks through at the end. Realistic depictions of how people grieve differently and the power and strength found in friends and faith during tragedy move the plot along.

[Virginia Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling story

I have followed this author for years. Her series touch the lives of everyone. This is the story of loss, strength and faith found in the heart of great tragedy. You will cry, and feel true love among these strangers turned Family

[Julie Akeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember when this was on the news, two years later my dad decided to take a trip up there. This book brought back a lot of memories. The story is experienced through a handful of women trying to survive the disaster and ended up bonding with each other.

[Cynthia Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived through the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, I found this story fascinating. Three women brought together by a catastrophic act of nature, supporting each other in relationships forged by trauma when they had been total strangers before May 18, 1980.

[Sharon D. Boyles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost a poem

This was a lovely, heartbreaking, and heartwarming story. God does work in mysterious ways. I recommend reading this book when you have lots of time. It's hard to put down.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book!

I absolutely loved reading this book! The characters and storyline were fantastic. I wish though that there was a little more closure with Mellie, Lissa, and Katheryn. I was really needing one more chapter. But I would totally read this book again!

[Patty Herrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick easy read. Easily relatable characters. Story of sadness and friendships found.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Great book about friendship and trials. I didn’t know anything about the eruption of Mt St Helens so I definitely learned a lot!

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three women come together in the wake of Mt. St. Helen's eruption to take care of each other.

[Rachel Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different style than Lauraine's other books.

[Linea Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Snelling book and I will read more.

[Charleen Weismantel]

So cool!

Another wonderful bo
ok. Couldn't put it down. Laundry and cleaning again waited patiently. Thanks! Keep writing, making stories of hope!

[Kinzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tragedy of Mount St. Helens was briefly mentioned in school, but this book really helped me understand the magnitude of it all. Such a great empowering story!

[Allan67 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that I read to Diana. We can't do much anymore after her stroke, so I read to her to spend time together. Diana has always loved to have someone to read to her.

[Gayle Cappelluti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It has everything I look for in a novel - history, love, family, friendship,tragedy,mystery,disappointment, promises broken, lives changed, loss, grief, despair, addiction, hope, faith...and so much more. In addition, and pretty impressive to me, it has an ongoing conversation with G-d in a way that doesn't force Him down the reader's throat. Clearly, The Way of Women has a lot to offer and happily, is written in a style that makes for quick and easy reading. What more could one ask from a book?
In this story, we meet Mellie and Harv, and their young daughter, Lissa, who is battling leukemia. They are down on their luck as Harv's employment has been sketchy, their finances, weak, and Lissa's treatment, incredibly expensive. Harv has even begun to wonder if perhaps he might be more valuable to his family dead than alive. We also meet Katheryn, a children's book author. Her husband, David, is a college professor who has been battling depression, made worse by his losing out on the position of Dean. He decides to go camping with their youngest of three children, 11-year old Brian. Finally, Jenn is a very successful model turned photographer who is more than ready to leave a life of promiscuity and drug and alcohol abuse in New York City to return to her home out west where the love of her life broke her heart many years ago. Overlapping these characters stands majestic Mt. St Helen's, about to erupt in 1980, raining fire and brimstone on everyone and everything in her shadow. How does this great Lady, the mountain, impact these characters and how do they impact each other? Please read The Way of Women to answer these questions.
All of the characters in this novel, and not just those main characters briefly described above, are rich, real and three-dimensional. They come to life on the pages with vivid and believable descriptions, lives, tales, tragedies, and accomplishments of their own. Not one fades into the background or becomes muddled or confused with another as is so often the case in other novels. Each is well developed; showing weakness and courage, kindness and anger, compassion and impatience. Ms. Snelling knows her craft.
As we read in the early pages of Praise for The Way of Women, "Grief and disaster can be transforming if we allow G-d to work in our lives." For me, I feel transformed by having read this wonderful, deep and moving story of the lives touched and intertwined by the disaster of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, and totally for the better.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review from my old blog...

I don't know quite what to think about Lauraine Snelling. I enjoy her books but so many times throughout the books I stumble across something that jars me out of the world surrounding, in this case, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens twenty-eight years ago.

I think that the biggest problem I have with her stand alone novels is the number of characters whose lives she tries to weave together. While I appreciate an author that can weave together seemingly disparate lives of characters there comes a point where the number has to stop increasing.

At the beginning of this book I had to flip back a couple of pages on a few different occasions to figure out whose life i was looking at. Snelling did bring things together in the end...albeit in a somewhat stretching manner. I felt haunted by the tie that Snelling left dangling. That touch makes this book a book I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Cherie Kasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really loved this book. Not just the story but the style in which it was written. I have a read a number of Lauraine's books in the past and even though it is not a new book I would recommend that everyone should read this book.
I also love the chapter's that are written from the viewpoint of the mountain. It really makes you think about what God might have been thinking when he created the earth.
I also liked the way each chapter focused on one person at a time starting at the first chapter. A little background about each person to start with, building the story a little at a time.
The information on the Mt. St. Helens eruption is so interesting. I thought I knew a lot about the happenings but this was so detailed I really enjoyed reading about it.
The three women in the story are in different places in their faith and the way their characters are developed extremely well. It was so enjoyable to read about their growth in faith and with each other.

[Vicki Mollenauer]

What a great book. I love how each character is described, and then start meeting each other one by one until they've all met and influenced each other's lives in significant ways. I love the point of view of the volcano as well. So nice to find a book where you can tell the author is a Christian, but she's not cramming it down your throat. God is a part of these people's lives, and some of them have lost their relationship with Him, but the story is not about how they try to get that back. It's about how all of these characters struggle, and how they become stronger because of each other through adversity.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about three women who meet durning the eruption of Mount St. Helen's in WA. State. You are shown how each of them is living life, what brought them together,how they ended up helping each other deal with destruction, heroism, tragedy and the hope they each have. Needed a box of kleenex and wished I could read more on these women in a future book. I also enjoyed on the chapters where short, but also there was a page/chapter on how the Mountain felt at different stages before, durning and after the eruption. Will read it again someday ...and will bring more kleenex too.

[Leola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, mostly because my husband lived close to Mt St. Helens when it erupted. The individual stories of each person was intriguing, especially accounts of "The Lady" or The Mountain, and it's fictionalized thoughts. In the beginning I found it hard to keep the characters straight, but eventually recognized each one. It wasn't a "I-can't-wait-to-see-what-happens-next" kind of book for me, but it was definitely a good read, and I love Lauraine Snelling's style of writing. It was the first book of hers I've read, but liked it enough to read others.

[Karen Singrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down

This book was hard to put down! An amazing story of several people caught up in, during and after the eruption of Mount St. Helen in 1980. Four stories about loss off a husband and the hope of saving their young daughter with cancer, another about the loss of a husband and young son without ever finding their bodies, another about lost love being found and the last of the mountain itself talking to God and then tying them together through uncertain faith in God that becomes stronger with the women's prayers and friendship.

[Ratforce]

This novel by bestselling author Lauraine Snelling combines two of your favorite genres: inspirational fiction and adventure. This novel focuses not only on survival, but also on rescuing loved ones in the face of a terrifying natural disaster.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong story

Smelling wrote a beautiful story about love, loss and healing with the backdrop of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen in 1980. A page turned of historical fiction at its best.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it