Religion in Review: New Installments in Series Fiction

-- Publishers Weekly, 9/7/2005

So Much of Life Ahead: Hearts of the Children, Volume 5
Dean Hughes. Deseret, $21.95 (480p) ISBN 1-59038-472-5

This fifth and final installment in Hughes's series, set in Utah and East Germany in the tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s, is actually the 10th novel in the entire Thomas family saga, which began with the popular Children of the Promise series set in World War II. Satisfyingly enough, Hughes ties this last book of the second series quite explicitly with the first book of the previous one, so readers can see the development of all of the characters, young and old, through the ten novels. This book traces four cousins, now in their mid-twenties in the early 1970s. Diane contemplates a return to her emotionally and physically abusive husband Greg, who claims he's changed; her character's evolution from a pretty but shallow girl to a mature, loving, beautiful woman is one of the story's highlights. Kathy, once on fire to save the world from injustice, discovers happiness in the quiet domesticity she once disdained while still proving that it is possible to effect change one heart at a time. Gene, home from Vietnam and recovered from the worst of his physical injuries, exhibits a smoldering rage that alienates his family. Hughes does a fine job of honestly portraying the bitterness and confusion that marked many soldiers' attempts to re-enter civilian life. The story's one major problem is its relative neglect of Hans, the German cousin whose spiritual development was so key in earlier installments. He is disappointingly tangential here. In all, however, Hughes provides a fitting and rewarding conclusion to the series. (Oct.)

Warrior's Heart
Donna Fleisher. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (304p) ISBN 0-310-26395-6

Chris McIntyre, a brave military vet and a newly converted Christian, has moved to Portland to live near her dear friend Erin. The trouble is, Erin's husband Scott doesn't trust Chris for a moment--her audacity and attraction to trouble have gotten Erin into scrapes in the past, even endangering her life. Now Erin is pregnant, and Scott is even more determined to keep her safe. In this second installment in Fleisher's Homeland Heroes series, Scott and Chris are thrown together after a horrible storm strikes Portland. Both trained to do search and rescue work, they are sent around the neighborhood to check on elderly residents and get help to those in need. During three long days of teamwork, Scott sees a new side of Chris--a selfless person who rushes into a burning house to rescue a friend--and he must learn to practice the message of forgiveness he's heard all his life in church. Fleisher draws likeable, engaging characters, and her snappy dialogue keeps the novel moving at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, readers who missed Fleisher's previous novel, Wounded Healer¸ will feel lost. Just a few more pages of backstory--a summary of Erin and Chris's friendship during Desert Storm, and a clear recounting of the dangers Chris had put Erin in before--would have helped. However, readers who tuned in with Book One will find this a worthy sequel. (Oct.)

Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought?!
Charlene Ann Baumbich. Viking/Penguin, $13 paper (340p) ISBN 0-14-303619-X

In her fourth installment of the Welcome to Partonville series, Baumbich continues the charming tale of the small-town doings of the inhabitants of a small "circle-the-square town in the northern part of southern Illinois." Realtor Katie Durbin, the city slicker from Chicago, deals with the realities of life in the country, complete with mice in her silverware drawer, and plots ways to revitalize economic life in "Pardon-me-ville." Nellie Ruth McGregor and Edward Showalter endearingly find romance after sixty, while old codger Arthur Landers suspects his wife Jessie of trying to rekindle an old flame with Lester K. Biggs, who runs the town grill. Young Jessica Joy battles disappointment over a too-quick pregnancy while trying to keep her motel running smoothly between bouts of morning sickness. Holding the storyline together is the indomitable octogenarian Dorothy Jean Westra, whose heart of gold and plucky spirit refreshingly remind readers that life doesn't end at eighty-something. Baumbich's chatty run-on sentences--punctuated with numerous parentheses, all-caps for emphasis, and asides--will leave readers mentally breathless, and her sheer exuberance for her characters spills out on the page in plentiful exclamation marks and italicized sentences. But it is Baumbich's unbridled enthusiasm and her ability to make the ordinary events of life interesting that keep the nostalgic blue-rinse set clamoring for more. (Sept.)