Jackson Keene Provides Wonderful Christian Historical Novel..in Quest for the Middle Kingdom...

"The Fall of the Peking Castle" from September 1900. British and Japanese soldiers assaulting Chinese troops.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Reverend Smithers felt a bit ashamed for his cold reception of David. To make amends, he took it upon himself to go with the man to the hospital. He knew the way. Plus, he spoke adequate Mandarin, enough to speed up the process of getting the wounded Westerners properly registered and receiving adequate care. After the horrible tragedy of the recent Boxer Rebellion, latent bias against foreigners was widespread throughout the city. Speaking the language could only facilitate matters, he was sure.
The two men left immediately. David drove the two bound oxen forward as fast as he dared. He would have uploaded the cart of its cache of arms at the Society office first, but feared he had already lost too much time. “Hang on Edward, both of you. We be almost there. Hang on just a little bit longer, lads.”
MacDougall prayed silently under his breath as they hurried along. Smithers prayed out loud.
~~~

Quest for the Middle Kingdom

Retitled and under a New Publisher

By Jackson Keene

Jackson Keene may be the only author to have The Boxer Rebellion and the beginning of basketball in one book, all tied up with lots of romance... and do it so well that readers are pulled in so quickly that you realize that you are reading a very satisfactory ending! I enjoyed this historical novel immensely!

David Alan MacDougal was born in 1882 and, as with many of us, learned about the kirk, the church, and God from his parents, especially David's father. Jonathan, as they worked their farm, would share about his faith and talk routinely about what was happening and how they would face what the future held. Times were getting worse and many of those in the Scottish Highland were leaving. David's family were landowners and fairly wealthy but David knew that his older brother would control the land in the future.

But that had never concerned him, because even as a young boy, his pastor, Reverend Hennessey, had captured his attention through his words and soon David came to commit his life to God, and more specifically, to become a missionary...He knew he had been called to go to China; he was 18!

David was a good looking lad, one who had developed and maintained a body through hard farm work, weights and through the sports he loved. Basket Ball had just begun, so David and his brother soon learned the rules and practiced until David was totally enjoying this new sport...

So when he was ready to set off and was on the ship for his long voyage, it wasn't long before he was looking for ways to continue his exercise regiment...

Soon this personable young man had a Basket Ball group going. He also was soon asked to preach...

And he also developed a group of female admirers who were quite willing to have him forget his commitment and participate in a different type of exercise.  David had, however, already learned the hard way--he had lost his sweetheart to his cousin while he had been away...

That didn't mean he wasn't tempted--so keeping busy with exercise helped... and it also led to his saving the ship and everybody on it from death.

In fact, the trip to China was a great adventure, full of surprises and fun; this was my favorite part for excitement!

But the story of David as he came to take his position at the missionary was a different type of enjoyment... The church, as well as the community had lost many members during the Boxer Rebellion, so there was much to do, and many coming to the church for help in meeting just basic needs of shelter and food...

As things became more routine, David began to think about introducing Basket Ball to the community. Many came, including one young female who was the daughter of one of the church leaders... What an interesting and fun love story to end with!

Highly recommended!


GABixlerReviews

Author

Jackson Keene was born sometime before the turn of the century in a little town that nestles close to the mighty Mississippi and not so far away from Graceland, either, the final home of the King, Elvis.  Millington, Tennessee was, until 1993, home to Memphis Naval Air Station, at one time, among the busiest and biggest of U.S. naval stations in the whole world.

Born into a traveling military family, he attended seven different schools, and lived in five states (TN, RI, CA, FL and TX) before graduating from senior high school with honors.  He obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees in History and spent a year toward a Ph.D. in the same field before abandoning his dream of being a publishing professor.

However, he never lost his love of history, detailed research, or good historical fiction. Read More on His Site!