The Dawning of Deliverance by Judith Pella

First published: Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1995

Genre(s): Novel

Subgenre(s): Adventure; historical fiction (twentieth century); saga

Core issue(s):Conversion; doubt; faith; God

Principal characters

• Mariana, Countess Remizov, the protagonist
• Dmitri, Count Remizov, Mariana’s father
• Prince Sergei Fedorcenko, also known as Sergei Christinin, Mariana’s foster father
• Anna Christinin, Mariana’s foster mother
• Daniel Trent, an American journalist who becomes Mariana’s fiancé
• Cyril, Count Vlasenko, a cousin of Sergei’s father and enemy of the Fedorcenkos
• Basil Anickin, a would-be lover of Mariana’s mother
• Nicholas II, czar of Russia
• Alexandra, the wife of Nicholas II
• Misha, a Cossack, friend of the Fedorcenkos

Overview

The Dawning of Deliverance is the fifth book in The Russians series about the Fedorcenko family and other individuals in pre-revolutionary Russia. Judith Pella collaborated with Michael R. Phillips on the first four novels, then Pella continued the series on her own. The book, after a prologue that summarizes the earlier installments in the series, opens with Mariana traveling by train across the vastness of Russia to Manchuria to take up a position as nurse during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Twenty-three and unmarried, she is troubled by memories of Daniel Trent, an American journalist who betrayed her trust nearly four years ago. Mariana is conscious of a desire to help the suffering and is aware that her physical journey has a spiritual dimension.

When she arrives at the north end of the Liaoyang Peninsula, she is immediately needed to nurse wounded Russian soldiers. In the midst of this exhausting labor, she meets Daniel again and wonders if God is giving her a second chance with him. She learns that his father has died, but Daniel does not reveal that his search for God has lapsed.

Meanwhile in St. Petersburg, Mariana’s foster father, Prince Sergei Fedorcenko has escaped from exile in Siberia and is living under the name of Sergei Christinin. He decides he must teach working men to read and write to compensate God for his goodness to his family. Cyril, Count Vlasenko, now in possession of Sergei’s St. Petersburg estate, schemes to become minister of the interior. The scene moves to Geneva, where Vladimir Lenin works for revolution, before it returns to Manchuria.

Mariana, now in Port Arthur, saves the war hero Captain Barsukov from the unnecessary amputation of his leg by the incompetent Dr. Vlasenko, son of Count Vlasenko. Daniel, in search of a story, bribes his way to Port Arthur, where, during a shelling by the Japanese, he comforts Mariana, although he himself is frightened. Mariana suddenly has an insight that she will marry either Barsukov or Daniel.

The scene shifts back to St. Petersburg, where the delight of the czar and his wife at the birth of a son, Alexis, is shattered when the baby seems subject to mysterious bleeding. There is social unrest as well: Father George Gapon, although loyal to the czar, is founding unions for workers. The scheming Count Vlasenko thinks he may be able to further his aims through Basil Anickin, a fugitive recently returned to Russia and half-mad with hatred of the Fedorcenkos. Basil has recognized in Anna, Mariana’s foster mother, the person whose intervention prevented him from killing Mariana’s mother after she rejected him.

Conditions in Port Arthur grow worse as water, food, and medical supplies run low. Mariana blames herself for the death of an uncle, a patient in the hospital where she works, and seeks out Daniel for comfort. He tells her that God would have cured her uncle if he had wanted to, and she responds that God sent Daniel to her at just the right moment. They declare their love for each other, but Daniel silently wonders if it will be strong enough to survive the wartime trials ahead.

Mariana attends her uncle’s funeral. Although she is sad, her knowledge of Daniel’s love enables her to keep going. She gently rejects a proposal of marriage from Captain Barsukov. Under the influence of professional ambition and the desire for adventure, Daniel makes a serious blunder. He agrees to smuggle a report regarding Japanese troop movements onto a Red Cross ship permitted to leave Port Arthur, a ship on which Mariana is a nurse and which is unexpectedly boarded and searched by a group of Japanese. In the ensuing confusion, Mariana is accidentally shot by a Russian patient embittered by a serious war wound and seeking revenge against the boarding party; Daniel is betrayed as a spy by Dr. Vlasenko and arrested. Before being led away, he kisses Mariana and promises her they will be together again.

Incarcerated in a Japanese prison camp, Daniel has a religious awakening. He realizes that he had been happiest in the days following his father’s death when he had been actively seeking God. He stops feeling guilt at the sporadic nature of his pursuit of God and accepts that God loves him despite his imperfect nature. He then discovers that he is to be released. Strings have been pulled on his behalf, and the Japanese do not wish to offend their prisoner’s family, who own a firm that is a major producer of the steel on which the Japanese navy relies. Daniel and a recovered Mariana are soon reunited in St. Petersburg and plan marriage. As an authentic Russian heroine, she is granted an interview with Nicholas and Alexandra. In gratitude for Mariana’s selfless work, the czar pardons Sergei, her foster father, who can now live openly as a Russian prince.

Once again private happiness and misery take place against the backdrop of sweeping historical events. Sergei is killed when the authorities fire on a peaceful demonstration led by Father Gapon. This bodes ill for the future of Russia, as the marchers would have been satisfied by a simple appearance by the czar, absent from St. Petersburg on the fateful day. An attempt by Basil to bomb the flat where Sergei’s mourners gather is thwarted by the technical expertise of Misha, a Cossack and longstanding friend of the Fedorenkos. Dmitri, Mariana’s father, who has lived irresponsibly, regains some self-respect as he risks his life to capture Basil. The novel ends on an optimistic note with Anna deciding she wishes to go on living despite the death of her husband Sergei.

Christian Themes

The Dawning of Deliverance uses its characters’ struggles and triumphs to examine questions of doubt, conversion, faith, and the nature of God. A rapidly moving story is set against dramatic events and a simply sketched background. Characterization can be superficial (Pella’s Russian aristocrats are more like twentieth century Americans), dialogue is wooden, and the style is pedestrian. Also, the historical background is not utilized in any depth. This book is clearly a historical romance designed to entertain, with no literary pretensions, although it does bear a message for its readers.

The message, designed to uplift a people in a difficult world, is that God understands people’s doubts and questionings. Daniel seeks God for some time after the death of his father, then loses focus in the everyday busyness of his life. Ashamed of seeming a foul-weather Christian, one who only approaches God when life is painful, he hides his spiritual failures from Mariana, whose tranquility he envies. In the Japanese prison camp, Daniel dreams of a tentmaker and the line “It’s not easy to kick against the pricks.” He is reminded of the references to the apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and realizes that the God who had steadily pursued him, even in sleep, will not condemn him for unavoidable human weaknesses. He accepts his human fallibility and God.

Anna, Mariana’s foster mother, had been told by her father in a previous volume in the series that she is to bear the family’s burdens but will not be called on to do so unaided by God. The death of her husband makes her angrily question God’s treatment of her, a woman who loves God. Only in the novel’s last scene does she accept that she still has much for which to live.

Sources for Further Study

Hudak, Melissa. Review of Passage into Light, by Judith Pella. Library Journal 123, no. 18 (November 1, 1998): 66. A review of the seventh novel in The Russians series takes the Fedorcenko family in 1917 and the start of the Russian Revolution.

Hudak, Melissa. Review of White Nights, Red Mornings, by Judith Pella. Library Journal 122, no. 2 (February 1, 1997): 68. This review of the sixth book in The Russians series focuses on Anna’s children and their differing political views.

Mort, John. Review of Mark of the Cross, by Judith Pella. Booklist 102, no. 16 (April 15, 2006): 28. A review of one of Pella’s numerous historical romances, which may be compared with those in The Russians series.

Pella, Judith. http://www.judithpella.com. The author’s personal Web site, with sections headed “Book List,” “About Judith,” “FAQ,” and with details of a newsletter and links.