[book] Barriers Burned Away by Edward Payson Roe

[Danny Carlton]

I have it on my library site at http://bythefireplace.com/17/40247-Barr ... rned-Away/ if you don't want to get one of the ancient copies available at Amazon.com.

A bit about the author. E.P. Roe was a Presbyterian minister that wrote occasional articles for magazines as a hobby. He and his wife visited Chicago after the great fire and Roe was so moved by the tragedy he decided to write about it. His venture eventually emerged as a novel. It was so well received he quickly became the most read author of his time, surpassing even Mark Twain. Roe eventually realized he was reaching more people by writing books, than by being a pastor so resigned from his church to write full time. He eventually completed 21 novels and an asortment of short stories and informative pamphlets. The strong Christian message in his Roe's books would be why Twain in more well knwon today than Roe.

In Barriers Burned Away, Roe combined the admonishing style of Horatio Alger with the old world grace of Jane Austen in a story that never drags or bores. It's apparent Roe debated many an atheist as the characters (believers and non-believers) have a depth many Christian authors seem to never reach.

The two main characters, devout, poor, hard-working Dennis Fleet and the wealthy heiress and avowed atheist Christine Ludolph clash yet find themselves inexplicably drawn together. One sub-plot is Dennis' effort to convince Christine the reality of God's love and Jesus' sacrifice against her upbringing to reject Christianity and all religion as mere superstition. The plot culminates in the Chicago fire as the characters each face tragedy and its meaning to their world view.

Ironically I saw many similarities to the recent Titanic movie, inasmuch as a historical event of tragic proportions was presented amidst a love story. Were it not for Hollywood bigoted hatred of Christianity, Barriers Burned Away would make a great movie on par with Titanic, surpassing it, in my opinion, if it's original virtues were left intact.

I struggled with this book because once I began it, I found it very hard to pull myself away and spent way more time each day reading it, than I really should have. Now that I've finished it I must force myself to wait before I begin any more of E.P. Roe's books, so I can get some work done.