Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas

I want to begin by saying I don't usually read books about this time period so it took a little for me to get into the story. But the writing completely won me over and I grew to care enough about the characters to want to know what happened to them. I haven't read the first book by Thomas but that didn't matter to understanding this book.

Henry is going to college studying agriculture. He doesn't mind his studies but he would prefer to have more time to play his fiddle. Why do you need a degree to be a farmer anyway? When his father dies suddenly, Henry decides to stay and 'help out' on his grandmother's farm and secretly earns extra money on the side running moonshine.
Margaret is housekeeper to Henry's grandma, Emily. Although Margaret's mother sees domestic work as being beneath her daughter, she allows it since Margaret has no interest in marrying and hasn't caught a suitable man's eye. The more time Margaret spends on the farm the more she pictures herself staying there the rest of her life.
Margaret's younger sister, Mayfair loves the farm also and Margaret brings her along as often as possible. Mayfair struggles with diabetes and Margaret feels responsible for her. As Margaret and Henry's lives intersect, choices they make and events surrounding them teach them both important lessons in love, forgiveness, honesty, and letting bitterness go.

One of the things that made this book stand out to me, besides the writing, was the mulit-layered plotlines. But while there was a lot going on, it was never forced, overwhelming, or on a tangent. Everything fit together by the end and contributed to the growth of Henry and Margaret. Several of the minor characters changed also. Woven through all of this was the message of the Gospel and the grace of God. We don't always understand what God is doing in our lives or why certain things happen but we can rest in the knowledge that He is there and He sees everything.