Captain Bayley's Heir (A REVIEW)

We had the opportunity to listen to another great Heirloom Audio Productions audio theater of Captain Bayley's Heir! This tale of the old west includes everything you'd expect to find in an old American tale, the California Gold Rush, searching for gold, wagon trains, and sittin' around a campfire singing songs. It's full of adventure, and it's full of great lessons for all Christians, and anyone who will listen!

We received a set of CD's for this review, but there are also digital features that we had access to as well. Since we spend so much time in the car driving to various activities we listened to it while traveling. It keeps the kids' minds busy, and we are all in one place listening together, so that makes it easy to do. With that said, we didn't get to use much of the online features (except for me), but I will share some of the details of what's available there later.

The story

Captain Bayley's Heir begins with a conversation between G.A. Henty (Mr. George) and a young man named Frank who is on a journey with his horse and wagon. Frank and Mr. George get to talking about things and Frank discovers Mr. George is a writer and is writing a story about Captain Bayley's Heir. Frank wants to hear this story, and that's where the story starts.

Before we get to America though, the story really starts back in London with Captain Bayley, and his family. They meet young Harry when Frank (Captain's nephew) rescues his dog from the freezing water. Capt. Bayley is not happy about this at first because he is concerned that his nephew might not have made it out alive too. But, he did and all was well with the Captain. Harry and Frank became good friends after that.

The story goes on as Frank is accused of stealing money from the school (which he did not). The headmaster has decided to expel Frank, so he flees to America (as he has always dreamed of doing) unable to face his Uncle and afraid of what might come of it all. He arrives in America ready to start over, and is headed to California to find some gold. He meets 3 men at the beginning of his journey across America who invite him to join them on their wagon train going west. He takes them up on that offer, and is very thankful he did when they are encountered by Indians who attacked their wagons. They survived, and continued on west to California. When they arrived they got to work searching their claim for gold. They helped a father and son who were struggling, and the father was very sick. Frank helped the father get better, and through this they were able to find a large amount of gold. The father and son decided to go back home to England to live a better life with all their new found riches, but the father promised to take a message back to the Captain for Frank.

As Frank was away in America, Captain Bayley was discovering the truth about his missing daughter and grandson. She had left because the Captain did not approve of her choice for marriage. Captain later felt sorry for that, and wrote her a letter. She never came back, and eventually died of consumption shortly after she had her first and only baby. It was a baby boy, and the baby boy was taken in by a nice couple who found her and the baby in the street. This baby boy who is Captain Bayley's grandson is someone who the Captain has recently just met. The story goes on as the Captain discovers who this is, and helps him. The Captain also decides that he wants to find out the truth by hearing Frank's side of the story so that he can know if Frank is innocent or not.

Phew! I will stop there. This story has many twists and turns and connections that it's hard to convey in a summary. There is a lot to the story! It's a beautiful story of forgiveness and God's grace as Frank is struggling through this life challenge. He meets many people along the way that help him, and that he helps which also helps him find strength and hope along the way.

The online study guide and content

Along with this CD set we received access to the online features which include a Study Guide. The study guide is 38 pages of questions, word definitions, expanding your learning blurbs, and bible study verses. The study guide and other online stuff is available through the Live The Adventure Club which also has other downloadable and listening features. The study guide completely walks through the whole audio adventure. It has 2 sets of questions for each track/chapter. The first set of questions are "listening well" questions based on recalling information. The second set are questions that go into deeper thinking. I really enjoyed having access to the Live The Adventure Club for all the benefits and extras to go along with the audio. There is even a script to read-along (which I used when I listened to it at the computer by myself). Very useful for a visual person!

Overall, I loved this story, and the production is so enjoyable to listen to. It makes you feel like you are right in the middle of the story, literally.

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