It took me several chapters to connect with Sarah’s Gift by Skye Wieland because I am not a horse lover and don’t have a real interest in African wildlife which is the prominent context of this story. The main character, Sarah works for a safari company in South Africa who take tourists to see native wildlife in its natural habitat on horse back. While Sarah is Australian there was little else in the story to pull me in until the plot developed. However as the plot unfolded I found myself getting more and more captivated.
There are strong Christian elements throughout the book but as many were original and at times, supernatural, I found this intriguing. (Others may not, and some Christians may even struggle with the likelihood of some scenes.) One of the Christian themes, reflected in the title, is our giftedness. God wants us to use our gifts even if they are don’t seem particularly spiritual or useful in the world’s eyes.
The story also touches on issues that have affected South Africa for many years such as the ivory trade, elephant culling and the ramifications of apartheid.
I did not find this book particularly well written but the strength of the story helped overcome this problem and I ended up enjoying the story.
