“Loved this book, could not put it down. Kept me interested and in suspense. . . . waiting for more from Jacqueline Wheelock.”

 

– Amazon purchaser, Author

“I wish I could give this book [A Most Precious Gift] more than 5 stars. It is going on the list of one of my all-time favorites.“

– Sara Foust, Author

“A Most Precious Gift exceeded my expectations. . . . I expected to enjoy it—but the setting, the characters, and the storytelling made me love it. . . . If you are fond of the likes of Tamera Alexander or Deeanne Gist, you will love Jacqueline Freeman Wheelock’s A Most Precious Gift.”

 

– Regina Merrick, Author

Jacqueline’s Journey…

Born approximately twenty miles inland from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I have been taken with the idea of knowledge between book covers ever since a library rolled into the “colored” section of my rural community when I was no more than six. Bearing huge books with glossy rainbow colors, the bookmobile captured my fancy effortlessly. Little did I know that the wide-eyed fascination of a small girl would blossom into a fierce determination to write, and one of the unexpected joys of my life has been the love from kind readers.
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Treasured Milestones from a Mississippi Girl’s Dream . . .

Christmas Stories From Mississippi

“They could have had lights this Christmas. She [ten-year-old Julia] knew they could. The house was almost ready because Mr. Ollie’s handprints (he was the community electrician) were all around the carved-out circles on the unpainted ceiling, circles that were dead center in the tops of all four rooms, letting air in around thick fingers of black wires left hanging abruptly. . . . All they needed was juice, as Mama called it. Just a little bit of juice . . . .”

Excerpt from “Christmas Lights,” Christmas Stories from Mississippi, Jacqueline Wheelock, contributor

A Cup of Christmas Cheer

“Doll-Baby. Ordinarily Maureen cringed at the embarrassing little-girl endearment. But recognizing her grandfather’s focused calm as a sign of present danger, she braced herself against the dashboard and prepared to join the parents she’d never known in the sweet bye-and-bye. One eye open and the other squeezed in prayer, Maureen gasped—seconds before Pawpaw Wheeler, his brakes screeching desperation, jerked into the oncoming traffic lane to keep from hitting a stalled pulpwood truck.”

Excerpt from “A Bracelet for Christmas,” A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Jacqueline Wheelock, contributor

A Year in Mississippi

“Few, I think, would argue against the enormous value that integration has offered to people of African descent in the state of Mississippi. But for those of us whose memories are tied to African American schools—memories of football season and Friday morning chapel, homecoming weekends and academic rigor—we often find ourselves in covetous recollection of portions of our past. And for many of us, quiet as it’s kept, those new and often dangerous and divergent paths of the 1960s into a different educational setting didn’t budge our sentiments a whit from the relationships forged and the good times experienced prior to the racial revolution called integration.”

Excerpt from “The Great Magnolia Homecoming,” A Year in Mississippi, Jacqueline Wheelock, contributor

Daily Guideposts 2021

“Recently, a successful friend of mine spoke to me openly, admitting to a lifelong struggle. Multi-gifted, he’s nonetheless plagued with never quite feeling on par with his colleagues. The confession stung. Little did he know he was looking into a mirror, for often when God singles me out to complete a task, I quail, balking when my heart longs to embrace the call. ‘Who, me?’ I ask. Who am I to tackle this pharaoh?”

Excerpt from Daily Guideposts, 2021, Jacqueline Wheelock, contributor

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A Most Precious Gift

“Jacqueline Wheelock’s novel, A Most Precious Gift, lives up to its name. it’s a gift to every reader. Reminiscent of the downstairs lives in Upstairs, Downstairs, it brings fresh perspective to the lives of slaves in a pre-Civil War southern town mansion. A love story written with rare perception, it reveals the plight of a beautiful slave girl, Dinah, who struggles to live free, love, and marry the man of her choice. With energy and a fierce devotion to her Christian faith, she fights for the right of self-determination. And like many of us, she does so amidst her own negative thoughts shouting, “you’re not good enough.”

— Judy H. Tucker, Editor/writer, Coming Home to Mississippi,
University Press of Mississippi, 2013

A Most Precious Gift

"If you love Downton Abbey, youmust read A Most Precious Giftby Jacqueline Wheelock. Her novel carries you along on a current as swift as the Mississippi River. Lyrical, dignified and uplifting, Mrs. Wheelock’s book is an unflinching glimpse of slavery in the Old Southfrom the slaves’ points of view."

—Diane Ashley, best-selling author of nine novels and two novellas and winner of Carol Award, 2012. www.dianeashleybooks.com.

A Most Precious Gift

"Jacqueline Wheelock will draw you into A Most Precious Gift with her wonderful characterization, her attention to detail and her historical setting. You’ll feel as though you are right there in Natchez with Dinah and Jonathan as they fight their own personal battles to realize what the Lord has in store for them. This is a story you won’t want to put down—and you will always remember."

—Janet Lee Barton, author, CBA and EPCA bestseller and a Romantic Timestop-pick author for Love Inspired Historical, 2014

A Most Precious Gift

"Author Jacqueline Freeman Wheelock has penned an engaging story in A Most Precious Gift, giving the reader an authentic look at the “downstairs” life in a Natchez plantation of the antebellum South. While the romance of Jonathan and Dinah captures the heart, the worth of this exceptional prose is in the deftly interwoven message of what true freedom really is. The title of this debut refers to this freedom, but the most precious gift is this amazing novel and what it leaves lingering in the heart of anyone fortunate enough to read its words."

—Aaron McCarver, CBA and ECPA best-selling author and Carol award winning author

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