First CRC Library

Cruel Paradise deftly weaves together the firsthand stories of men and women who emigrated from the Netherlands throughout the twentieth century. A skilled stylist with an unassuming presence, Hylke Speerstra brings readers along as he circles the globe interviewing transplanted Netherlanders in the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Combining elements of memoir and travelogue, his narrative speaks to universal human experience as it vividly recounts the trials and successes of these emigrants. Common themes of personal identity and family, uprootedness and loss, nostalgia and bittersweet joy run throughout the book. Yet these emigrants have had very diverse life experiences. Some have become affluent beyond imagining, brushing elbows with Rockefellers, Kennedys, and movie producers; others have spent the better part of a lifetime eking out their living as farmers. Often poignant, sometimes amusing, always memorable, these stories provide a moving tribute to those who left their homeland behind with little more than uncertain hopes for their children.

When her little brother died in her care, Emma Grace stopped praying, believing, reading the Bible and attending church. She thinks God failed her. Can He convince her otherwise? One of Emma Grace Falin's six-year-old twin brothers falls into a well and dies while in her care. Emma Grace begins a journey that takes her through the dark valley of guilt, sorrow, depression and anger at God. But through her ordeal, readers see the hand of God at work. Although she rejects Him, God brings restoration and healing into her troubled life. Readers will better understand God's mercy, as He compassionately guides the lives of Emma Grace and her family during their desperate period of grief and despair. Prayerfully, this book will encourage readers to claim God's faithfulness and love as their own - especially in times of brokenness.