Skip to main content

Covenant Child

Review

Covenant Child

Twins Kara and Lizzie Holbrooke are born to parents who love each other, their precious babies, and most of all, the Lord. Their grandfather is a software billionaire whose fortune means little to their Christian father. When their mother is killed in a car accident weeks after their birth, Kara and Lizzie continue to live in a world where love and happiness envelop them with every breath. It only gets better when their father marries Amanda, who embraces the role of mother, doting on the three-year-old twins and making their family whole again.

"COVENANT CHILD is one of Terri Blackstock’s best novels. Plenty of action, drama and emotion are brilliantly wrapped in a page-turning plot.... This is a wonderful book to read and share."

The fairy tale only lasts six months. Their father and paternal grandparents die in a plane crash, leaving a grief-stricken Amanda as the sole heir to the Holbrooke fortune. Kara and Lizzie cling to the woman they’ve come to know as “Mommy,” just as Amanda clings to them. But the three surviving Holbrookes are about to be ripped apart, heart and soul. Amanda is forced to hand her little girls over to Eloise and Deke Krebbs, their birth mother’s backwoods, alcoholic parents, who clearly have a money-based agenda. When Kara and Lizzie head for their new home in rural Mississippi, they journey into a darkness far worse than the closets in which they are often locked during the next 15 years.

Eloise and Deke “celebrate as if they’d just hit pay dirt” when the judge announces they’ll receive $300,000 a year from Amanda in order to care for the twins. The money is more than enough to finance a comfortable life for Kara and Lizzie, but their grandparents gamble and drink away each allotment. The twins grow up in squalor, living with abuse and neglect, learning early to shoplift the things they want. Their plight is not lost on Amanda, who continuously fails in her legal attempts to get custody of them. The twins grow up infused with lies about the evil Amanda who killed their parents. But Amanda made a promise to her late husband, a promise she intends to keep. She will take care of Kara and Lizzie, and find a way to give them hope and a future.

Kara and Lizzie drop out of school at 15 and sleep with any man who gives them attention. Kara gets an abortion, which results in a trip to the ER. Fearing for her sister’s life and unable to pay for hospital care, Lizzie calls Amanda, who comes immediately. She pays the bill and tries to convince them that she loves them and always will. Lizzie begins to believe her, but Kara is still convinced that Amanda killed their parents. 

As the twins’ fateful 18th birthday nears, everyone has an agenda. Eloise and Deke want the girls to sue Amanda for her entire estate, from which the Krebbs fully intend to benefit. Kara’s new boyfriend, recently released from a 10-year jail sentence, wants to marry Kara so he can share the wealth. And Amanda hopes the twins will come to live with her so she can finally fulfill her promise to love and care for them.

When the big day finally arrives, Lizzie runs off with Amanda, discovering a world of love she never knew existed and learning the truth about her past. But Kara makes choices that plunge her into ugliness far worse than her painful childhood with the Krebbs. And in this dark, horrific place, Kara finally seeks God’s mercy and Amanda’s love.  

COVENANT CHILD is one of Terri Blackstock’s best novels. Plenty of action, drama and emotion are brilliantly wrapped in a page-turning plot. Amanda’s unfailing love for the twins and her resolve to save them are a beautiful reflection of Jesus’ love for His children and His desire for each of us to find salvation. This is a wonderful book to read and share.      

Reviewed by Susan Miura on May 23, 2012

Covenant Child
by Terri Blackstock

  • Publication Date: May 8, 2012
  • Genres: Christian, Christian Fiction, Fiction
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas Nelson
  • ISBN-10: 1401686974
  • ISBN-13: 9781401686970