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We Hope for Better ThingsErin Bartels

Christian historical fiction

We Hope for Better Things

by Erin Bartels

After losing her newspaper job, Detroit journalist Elizabeth Balsam delivers an old camera and photographs to a reclusive great-aunt living in the family's rural Michigan farmhouse. Locked rooms, hidden graves, and guarded memories draw her into the lives of women who occupied the same house during the Civil War and the 1967 Detroit uprising. Their stories expose interracial love, racial violence, family complicity, and the cost of truth across three generations. Ambitious and multigenerational, this novel suits readers who enjoy journalists, historic houses, Michigan history, family mysteries, and Christian fiction confronting racism as a continuing inheritance rather than a problem safely confined to the past.

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Ginger Pear Fizz + Lager

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At a glance

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Spice2 of 5
Suspense3 of 5
Creepy1 of 5
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No surprises at chapter twelve

Content notes

Racism and racial violence across multiple generations; interracial marriage and discrimination; Civil War and 1960s racial conflict; death and grief; family estrangement; romantic content.

Alcohol-Free Pour

Ginger Pear Fizz

A bright, refreshing sip suits an unhurried afternoon between the pages.

What you'll need

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How to mix it

  1. Combine the noncarbonated ingredients in a glass or shaker and stir or shake until mixed. Pour over ice, top with any carbonated ingredient, and stir gently.
  2. Garnish: Use a matching citrus wheel, berry, or herb from the recipe when available.
  3. Glassware: Highball glass.
21+

Cocktail Pour · 21+

Lager

For adults of legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly.

A cold lager is an easy companion to a few more pages.

What you'll need

  • 12 oz Lager

How to mix it

  1. Pour into a clean pint glass and serve at the appropriate cool serving temperature.
  2. Garnish: None.
  3. Glassware: Pint glass.

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