When Sparrows Fall

After Katie came to visit, after Mom came to visit, before Darren left town for a few days, before I got sick for three weeks... I read a book.

I'd seen a description of When Sparrows Fall by Meg Mosley somewhere or other. Darren did, too, and he brought it home to me. It sounded like something I'd like, but I had my reservations. It's Christian fiction, see. And looked like it involved a romance. While there are lots of things I can't stand, Christian romance is way at the top of the list.

But I gave it a shot. And I liked it. Very much, in fact.

The premise is that Miranda, whose domineering husband died two years before, balks when the pastor of her small, controlling church announces that they're all moving to another state.

Before the pastor can coerce her to sell, she takes a bad fall. She'd just changed her will to give custody of her six children to her brother-in-law, Jack, in case something happened to her. Jack is a divorced English professor who met Miranda only once. He immediately drives out to see to the kids. His ideas are in direct conflict with many of Miranda's church's ideas (think: only-dresses, no caffeine or medicine, lots of kids, and wife obeys her husband in all things). But he's a good guy, he truly likes the kids, and he's truly concerned about Miranda.

She, meanwhile, wants to be free from all the rules and burdens, but one enormous secret weighs her down. If the secret gets out, she could lose her kids to the state foster care system. And the pastor, of course, knows the secret.

There is romance between Miranda and Jack, but it's handled as a natural progression as the story unfolds, and it's pleasing. You don't like Miranda's late husband, Carl, who was controlling and unkind; but the author manages to cast him in a sympathetic light as well. The story holds together logically (or maybe I was just so caught up by the end that I didn't care). The ending is possibly a little sunnier than in real life, but that suited me okay. And it was very satisfying to see Miranda slowly take charge of her own life again -- that was the real core of the story.

Anyone who has lived under the burdens of "standards" and "authority" should probably find this book a good read. I'm certainly happy to have found a Christian author who can write something other than piffle.

-- SJ