“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,
but the parent of all the other virtues.”

- Cicero

The words "Christian fiction" leave me ambivalent. It strikes me that the best works are usually allegorical, such as the C.S. Lewis Narnia series, while most of the books that are meant to be "relevant" come off sounding stilted and awkward, with paper-thin plots and characters. I don't want to like something just because it has a "Christian" label; I want to love something because it's damn -- I mean, darn -- good writing that also has a natural, comfortable relationship with faith. While Home, and it's companion novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead, aren't meant (I don't think) to be either banners or apologias of Christianity, the challenges, joys and comforts of the faith are woven realistically and unadorned through the common story. I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it is to be drawn into stories about good, decent people wrestling with some of the most profound challenges and fears you can have with grace and humanity. The people are truly characters, not caricatures, genuine throughout with no heinous, hypocritical secrets.
While Gilead is the older of the two books, Home is not really a sequel because it takes the unusual approach of mirroring the original story but through the eyes of different characters. Whereas Gilead is told in the form of a long, first-person letter from the elderly Rev. Ames to his young son, Home uses third-person narrative to unveil the drama originally alluded to in the household of Ames' best friend, the dying Presbyterian minister Robert Boughton who is being tended to by his quietly desperate but dutiful daughter, Glory, and his son, the troubled prodigal, Jack. While we become well acquainted with Glory's innermost thoughts and frustrations, Jack is as enigmatic to us as he is to the rest of his family, revealed only by the things he says and his often tortured body language. Both books are largely gentle narratives with few fireworks, but gripping nevertheless as the sparest scenes can still pack the equivalent of an emotional body blow. Most of all, you come to really care about the characters and what will happen next.
Gilead moved me profoundly when I read it about a year ago, and Home both completes the story and the soul-deep satisfaction I originally glimpsed. I also gained a deeper insight into my own life and family and into the struggles and mysteries of salvation, grace and redemption woven through devastating family dynamics. There's nothing sugar-coated or inauthentic here, though, which makes the story even more powerful. You don't have to read one book in order to enjoy the other but, believe me, you're going to want to. (For more about Gilead, read the "Balm in Gilead" series under my Night Writing category.)

• Dad to the Bone
• Duty is ours. Results are God's.
• Here there be vampires?
• The Knowing
• The difference between being a friend and being friendly
• A Night at the Prom
• Oh, Theocracy!
• Remembrance Day
• You don't have to win, but you do have to fight
• You're a great audience
• Night in the Emergency Room
• 21st century British healthcare
• A hard lesson
• I saw a ghost in New Orleans
• Oh, those three little words
• Getting ready
• The true meaning of Christmas specials
• Democrats Say "Your Mommy..."
• Did Allah fall off the throne?
• Rounding third and heading for home, it's a brown-eyed handsome man
• Loops in the mortal coil

• A South Dakota flashback
• Gotham Blog, Day 1: Why gunpowder was invented
• Gotham Blog, Day 2: A hard-working city
• Gotham Blog, Day 3: The secret to getting to the top in New York
• Gotham Blog, Day 4: The limo from Hell
• Vegas Blog: I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling going on here!
• Leaving Las Vegas
• Second star to the right and straight on until morning (London)
• First impressions (London/Mall Diva)
• Not all pigeons are unwelcome (London)
• Under the Tuscan sun (Tuscany)
• On holiday (Italy/Mall Diva)
• Driving in Italy
• Bi-lingual
• Driving in England
• Land of the 10:45 sun (Inverness)
• My heart is in the Highlands
• A little bit of Ireland
• If I could have just one supernatural power...
• The most important meal of the day
• The places you go, the people you meet