Kat ArmstrongReseñas

We've all experienced an in-between place, where we feel stuck, mired down, dragging. Kat brings hope to those working through such a time by exploring the stories of Dinah, Jacob's daughter (Genesis), and the Samaritan woman whom Jesus spoke with (John 4). These women lived in the same town, but in two very different times. Both went through trauma. But where one never found redemption that we know of, the other met Jesus. Kat's warm, funny, and insightful writing brings these women to life and through them applies the life-giving truth of the gospel to our own lives.

What does the Bible say to women? What does culture say to women? To which voice are we listening? Kat Armstrong wants us to listen to scripture and understand God's calling on women to love him with everything they've got: heart, soul, mind and strength. Sometimes culture leaves off the last two, assigning them by gender to men rather than to all believers. This book pulls together Kat's experience as a woman called to teach God's word while laboring in a male-centric atmosphere. It explores Bible passages that set women free to serve God, and it encourages us all to courageously step out in whatever God has called us to do.

Supplementing the book is a workbook/Bible study and teaching DVDs. It would be an excellent resource for women's ministries, youth groups, and friends to read and study together.

The Lord has really been speaking to me lately through the written word, and one of those books is The In-Between Place by Kat Armstrong. I have heard the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4 many times in my years as a Christian, but Kat gives a fresh perspective to a tale that is so easily overlooked, diving deeper into the text, and showing us that Jesus can change us no matter where we are, or where we've been.

From the first page you can feel Kat's passion for this message. She has went through her own excruciating in-between places, and shares her heart, her witnessing is so encouraging for those of us that are currently in in-between places. An in-between place can be any place that you feel stuck, where nothing makes sense, or when life and circumstances are so hard, and there is nothing you can do. In my mind I envision it to be when you feel like you're "stuck between a rock and a hard place." You are in-between.

For me, The In-Between Place was a light at the end of the tunnel, a beacon of hope and encouragement, and a great reminder that God has been with me through it all, and continues to give me strength as I go through the trails of life. It's time to make peace with your past, have undeniable hope in the present, and the strength and power to finish strong in the future.

This is a wonderful resource, and is actually meant to be studied as a group, thus making it perfect for Bible studies or classes, and is such a needed resource since we can all agree the pandemic is an in-between place all its own! Grab a copy of this book and get that encouragement we all need, have hope and faith, and be reminded that Jesus is always with us in our in-between places.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher through JustRead Tours. All views and opinions are completely honest, and my own.

I've read the story of the Samaritan woman at the well many times but this new book has given me a deeper understanding of John 4. The In-Between Place reminded me that this woman who had been judged by so many and cast aside was actually a woman whose life had been altered by tragic circumstances. She was in an "in-between place', a place that certainly wasn't where she had hoped to be. Suddenly, a man who knew all about her, who seemed to understand her as no one ever had, was talking to her! He was telling her about His gift of living water and giving her a glimpse of what her life could become. Is it any wonder that she dropped her heavy water jug and ran to town to urge the people to come see this man?

Author Kat Armstrong encourages us to be like this Samaritan woman who was so anxious to tell others about Jesus and His living water. We women today also l carry heavy water jugs: balancing our jobs and family, taking care of our physical health, and perhaps problems in our personal relationships. Are these water jugs weighing us down and keeping us from enjoying what He has given us? Do they prevent us from sharing the promise of God's Grace and Jesus's living water with others?

The In-Between Place is enlightening, encouraging, and inspiring, and it is a book to read, absorb, and share with others. I believe that it would be a choice for a Women's Bible Study group.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher but there was no obligation for a favorable review. These are my own thoughts.

An absorbing story of old Bristol at the height of its slave trade, and a young woman who is astute. As she watches young boys around her murdered, she is concerned enough to pry. The story is immersive, you feel the fog, the dirt, mud and misery of being poor and being dependent on those with money.

As this engaging story opens, fourteen-year-old Coronation (Corrie) Amesbury is a passenger in a stagecoach; following the relatively recent deaths of her brother and her father, and a fire which completely destroyed her home, she is travelling from her home in Wiltshire to the 18th century slave-port of Bristol. Seeking to “better herself”, she plans to stay briefly with her married elder sister whilst she attempts to find a domestic “situation” in one of the many affluent households in the city. Whilst listening to a conversation between her fellow passengers, she hears a disturbing story about six young boys from the city who have been found with their throats slit; their murders being blamed on Red John, a travelling man whom few have actually seen. Knowing how it feels to lose a brother, Corrie feels an immediate concern, not only for these unknown boys but also for their grieving families. It is this empathy which will drive her to seek justice for the boys but, in a city which places little value on the lives of the less fortunate, her determination to uncover the truth behind the killings exposes her to considerable danger.
I found this an enjoyable, fast-paced story, one which immediately transported me to the busy, thriving port of Bristol, a city which was at the centre of the slave trade during the early years of the eighteenth century. As well as very effectively capturing the various sounds, smells and sights which greeted Corrie as she explored her new landscape, the author’s descriptions provided insights into the various levels on which that society functioned. They portrayed the vast rift between the very rich and the desperately poor, capturing the comfortable lives of the affluent merchants, who were exporting cargoes of precious metals, weapons etc to Africa, in exchange for return cargoes of sugar, tobacco and slaves and exposing the bargaining, and the skulduggery, which frequently went on between merchants as fortunes were made and lost. The storytelling also highlighted the dreadful conditions experienced by the poorest in the community, those who faced the daily struggle to accommodate, feed and adequately clothe themselves.
It also exposed the inhumanity of the slave trade and the thoughtless, almost casual brutality with which the slaves were treated, even those such as Abraham, the young boy “adopted” as a pageboy by merchant’s wife Mrs Tufnell. A desperately unhappy and resentful child, he was subjected to the unpredictable moods of his mistress: dressed in expensive clothes, he was sometimes petted and shown off, but then, just as casually, beaten if he did the slightest thing to displease her. However, the story highlighted that brutality was not confined to the way in which black slaves were treated, but that it existed in marital relationships, as well as in how employers treated their workers.
Corrie’s eventual employment as lady’s maid to this woman enabled the author to very evocatively explore the “upstairs/downstairs” aspects of life in the household, a microcosm of the society outside its doors. Through Corrie’s acquaintanceship with Aaron Espinosa, a fellow-passenger from the stagecoach, the author reminds the reader that anti-Semitism is not a relatively modern phenomenon, but was rife in the eighteenth century, with Jews being seen as easy scapegoats for many of the “ills” of society.
With her endless scheming, eavesdropping and spying, I found Corrie to be a very likeable protagonist, even though there were times when I had to suspend my disbelief about some of some of the freedoms she enjoyed to pursue her investigations, and the number of times she was able to avoid serious harm from all the bawds, thieves and rakes she encountered! However, I must admit that my growing enjoyment of her feisty attitude to life, her self-confidence, and her determination to expose dishonesty and injustice wherever she found it, did make it relatively easy for me to rein in my more sceptical reactions!
The author’s skill in creating such a multi-layered character was not limited to her protagonist, she also brought it to bear on all her supporting characters. Most of these felt nuanced rather than stereotypical and none felt superfluous to the developing story. Through Corrie’s relationships with all these characters she built up a psychologically convincing portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of the world she was living in and trying to negotiate her way through. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plotting, some of which were surprising, and thought that the author managed to maintain the tension in a way which kept me engaged throughout this fast-moving story.
Kat Armstrong has a doctorate in eighteenth-century fiction and I’m sure that her familiarity with this period helped to lend such convincing authenticity to her characters, their attire and habits of speech, as well as to the ways in which she conveyed a powerful sense of place. Historical fiction is a genre I often struggle with because all too often it doesn’t feel convincing, but on this occasion I think the author got it right and I found myself hoping that she might be considering making this the first book in a series!
With its wide-ranging variety of interesting themes this would make an interesting choice for reading groups.

With many thanks to Yvonne Barlow at Hookline Books for a pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.