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For more than a decade, bachelor Father Tim's rectory was quiet as a tomb. Now it is filling up like a gurgling creek in a spring flood. Cynthia is his wife of one year. She writes and illustrates children's books, helps her husband minister to his flock, and lovingly monitors her husband's energy. Dooley, an abandoned youngster Father Tim took in, comes and goes from his new boarding school. Harley, a sick man rescued from the drug-infested Creek community, occupies the guest room while getting well and the refurbished basement apartment after that. And Puny Gutherie, the housekeeper, still keeps the rectory polished and the laundry sparkling clean even though she has to bring her twin baby daughters to work with her.
This eclectic mix also contains Barnabas, Father Tim's big as a Westinghouse freezer dog and Violet, Cynthia's white, long-hair cat and star of her children's books. They lend a delightful dimension to the book as they try to coexist. The rectory is a veritable beehive of activity and Father Tim loves the change. Another problem ensues when the 90-year-old Sadie Baxter dies and wills her 21-room mansion and 12 acres to the Lord's Chapel. The home is magnificent, but in need of much repair. What will become of this prime property in the middle of Mitford?
Throughout the book, Father Tim wrestles with the possibility of retirement. He feels both the excitement of stepping out in faith and the tremendous fear of the unfamiliar. How will he decide? Can he, like Abraham in Genesis 12, trust his unknown future to a known God?
Karon named the village bookstore "Happy Endings"; she likes them and her book proves it. How refreshing. Now she lulls listeners with the audio version At Home in Mitford. If you're listening in your car, you may find yourself suddenly steering toward North Carolina and a little town you "can call your own."
Jan Karon came to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and her dream of writing from a fast-paced life as an award-winning advertising executive. She is author of three previous Mitford novels. The first novel in the series, At Home in Mitford, was named an ABBY Honor Book by the American Booksellers Association. Out to Canaan deserves an honor as well.
If you are already a fan of the Mitford series, you will find Out to Canaan as full of suspense, delight, and laughter as the other Mitford books. You may promise yourself to read only another three pages and find you can't stop.
Alice Ann Robertson reviews books from her home in Nashville, TN.
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