The author of the finely crafted Passing by Samaria
(a Christy Award winner for best debut Christian novel) and the quirky, light romantic follow-up Ain't No River
offers this disappointing attempt at portraying a young girl's life during the racial turmoil of the late 1960s. Eight-year-old Shirley doesn't know what will unhinge her mentally ill mother next—small incidents like her brother not eating his peas or major disasters like her father departing for Vietnam. When Shirley's father is killed in action and her mother is hospitalized after a mysterious house fire, Shirley is shipped off to live with Mother Johnson, a spiritual counselor who wants to counteract the dark spiritual forces at work in Shirley's life. As the novel bounces between two time settings—the 1960s and 1980s—things become choppy. Characters are confusingly given similar names (Sheri and Shirley) or referred to in odd manners (Shirley's unnamed brother is called "the offender" and "the nonpea eater" repeatedly throughout six pages). There are long rambling passages of dialogue and contrived conversations to incorporate historical figures. The spiritual presence of a demonic dark angel, "Child Killer Shirley," weakens rather than enhances the continuity of the story. Sprinkled throughout, however, are a few nuggets of wisdom and snippets of the lovely writing for which Foster is known. Unfortunately, these do not compensate for the book's narrative flaws or deeply unsatisfying ending. Foster's loyal readers should hope for more of the clarity and enjoyable storytelling she is capable of in the promised sequel. (Oct.)
