Review: No Greater Love by Kathi Macias

1989 was not a good year to fall in love–at least not in South Africa, and certainly not with a white man. Chioma had fought it with every ounce of her being, but there it was, literally, in black and white.

A work of fiction, No Greater Love is set upon the backdrop of the African National Congress’s struggle against apartheid in South Africa. It was a violent historical era, and the novel reflects the horrors of that time and place.

Sixteen-year-old Chioma is a colored servant on the Vorster farm near Pretoria. Her parents had been murdered several years before as they fought for the cause, and Chioma’s most precious possession is her father’s journal chronicling his involvement in the ANC. She thinks there is little she, a young girl, can do to make things better for her people. Meanwhile, she fights an attraction–possibly mutual–to the white son of her Afrikaner boss, even though she knows that can’t end well.

She finds herself on the run after two brutal murders and joins a rebel band seeking revenge on the whites. When the band leader gives her a Bible he’s stolen, she becomes perplexed about the white man’s god. She’s heard of this god often at the Vorster farm, but never believed he had anything to do with her life. Events play out in Chioma’s life so that she sees the fulfillment of the words of John 15:13: There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (New Living Translation).

No Greater Love is the first book in a four book series, Extreme Devotion, by Kathi Macias. This series chronicles modern day martyrs dying for their faith in various parts of the world. Kathi personally sent me a copy of this book for review, but the opinions, as always, are my own. The second book in the series, More than Conquerors (set in Mexico) has also been released.

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley.