Helpful Score: 3
Occasionally, a simple book feels like home, and its characters become cherished friends. These vignettes will doubtless become favorites, not only for the quarter of a million people who enjoyed Gulley's Front Porch Tales, but also for new readers who will respond to the Garrison Keillor- style humor and pathos of fictional Harmony, Ind. The town's characters include the wise Quaker pastor who narrates the book; a childless couple who spend their life savings (and then some) to wrest their niece from the grip of her alcoholic parents; and the narrow-minded church elder who "knew just enough Scripture to be annoying, but not enough to be transformed." This book is pure joy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
Helpful Score: 2
A wonderful feel-good book, writen by a young minister.
Helpful Score: 2
Written in a warm, down-home style, this novel chronicles the moving and humorous world of Quaker pastor Sam Gardner in his first year back in his hometown. Laugh and cry with Sam as he reflects on the quirks of human nature in such memorable vignettes as "The Aluminum Years," in which a bumbling Sam mulls over the proper aluminum item to give his wife for their tenth anniversary. In another unforgettable story, the church quilt mysteriously displays the image of Jesus, drawing throngs of the faithful to the remarkable "Shroud of Harmony." Through it all, Sam's love--for Billy Bundle, the "World's Shortest Evangelist"; Dale Hinshaw, the narrow-minded church elder who "knew just enough Scriptrue to be annoying, but not enough to be transformed"; and all the others--shines through in a collection of stories that readers will treasure for years to come.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this series very much!