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Home to Harmony – Philip Gulley

The Episcopalians have the “Mitford” series, the Mormons have the “Fairhaven Chronicles,” and now the Quakers have “Home to Harmony.”Author Philip Gulley, himself a Quaker minister, brings to life a small town where every child can safely walk to the drugstore for a soda and where progress just isn’t to be thought of. Our character, Sam Gardner, was born and raised in Harmony and left for a time to go to college and begin his ministry. A wife and two sons later, he misses the idyllic life he had as a child and takes his family back to Harmony. He … Continue reading →

Mercy Me – Margaret A. Graham

“Mercy Me” is a down-to-earth Christian novel about a woman named Esmeralda and her best friend Beatrice. Beatrice has moved to another town and misses all her old friends, but Esmeralda keeps her up-to-date on everything that’s going on in town, and throws in some life advice as well. She feels responsible for making sure Beatrice is happy – after all, Beatrice did have cancer a few years back and lives in fear that it will return. As Esmeralda moves quietly through her life, doing all that needs doing, she uses her God-given stubbornness and common sense to solve problems … Continue reading →

Book Awards: The Christy

As I’ve been exploring the world of literary awards, I can’t forget the Christy. This award is for the very best in Christian literature, and several of my favorite Christian authors are also Christy award winners, including Dee Henderson. From the Christy site, here is the mission statement of the Christy Award:  Nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview.  Bring a new awareness of the breadth and depth of fiction choices available, helping to broaden the readership.  Provide opportunity to recognize novelists whose work may not … Continue reading →

Wish You Well – David Baldacci

David Baldacci is best known for his suspense novels, but in “Wish You Well,” he takes a departure from his normal genre and gives us a literary look into the heart and soul of the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia in the 1940’s. Louisa Mae Cardinal, who prefers to be called Lou, is the twelve-year-old daughter of Jack Cardinal, a celebrated novelist. She wants to be just like him and spends hours scribbling in her own notebook. But despite Jack’s fame, he doesn’t have the income to support his family, and wants to move to California to become a screen writer. … Continue reading →

Summer Reading

Here we are, just a few short hours away from the official start of summer, even though we’ve have temperatures in the 90’s for quite a while where I live. School’s out, kids are home, moms are busy – and that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for reading. Many children do their reading in conjunction with school, and this is why libraries set up summer reading programs, to give kids the incentive to keep reading when they’re not at school. You can check with your library to see what they’re offering by way of reward – we got … Continue reading →