Angel Sister by Ann H. Gabhart takes place in the fictional town of Rosey Corner, Kentucky, in 1936.

Kate Merritt is the middle of three sisters. Evie, the oldest, is flighty and self-centered. Victoria is too young to be of much help. Kate is her mother’s main help around the house as well as with her father.

Flashbacks show us how Kate’s parents, Victor and Nadine, met and fell in love. They married right before Victor shipped out for WW1. Victor had never had a good relationship with his own father, who has never seen Victor as good enough. Plus his father blames Victor for the death of the cherished older son, Preston. With that baggage plus the horrors he experienced in the war, Victor becomes addicted to alcohol.

Nadine’s father, Preacher Reese, managed his home and church with an authoritarian hand. He never approved of her marrying Victor and continues to remind of of her poor choices.

Nadine still loves Victor but can’t understand why he won’t give up drinking for her and the girls. “Something wasn’t quite right between a man and his wife when that man had to get comfort from a bottle.”

One day when Kate went to the church to deliver something to Grandfather Reese, she finds a little girl on the steps outside. The girl, Lorena, said her parents left her at the church and told her an angel would take care of her. Her brother was sick and her parents didn’t have much money, so they left to find work and help. Lorena has a note with her name and birth date written on it. She thinks Kate is her angel, despite Kate’s assurance that she’s not an angel.

Kate brings Lorena home, where she fits right in with the family. But Grandfather Reese calls a meeting at the church to say that Lorena will be given to an older childless family in the church. (Apparently there was nothing along the lines of Family Services in that day). Despite the Merritt family’s protests that Lorena has bonded with them and is doing well, Preacher Reese doesn’t feel they can adequately care for her.

Kate had prayed with everything in her that Lorena would be able to stay with their family. When that doesn’t happen, her faith is shaken.

The story continues with how these various threads interact as well as those of other characters.

I felt the narrative moved a little slowly in parts. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be that way since it was set in KY and would have a different pace than a story set in NYC, or if it was just the author’s style.

And the author kept repeating the phrase that someone “mashed” their mouth or lips together. I don’t know if that’s a Kentucky colloquialism or a pet phrase of the author’s. I had never heard it before, and it was jarring and distracting.

But I liked how the story arc ended up, with themes of love and forgiveness. I thought the way Nadine and Victor were initially attracted to each other was especially sweet.

The author shares in her end notes that the story grew out of her mother and aunts’ discussions of their family stories and the small town they grew up in with some of its quirky characters.

I didn’t know until I finished the book that it is the first in a trilogy about the Merritt sisters and Rosey Corner. I’ll probably read the next two at some point, but not right away.