Book Review: Finding Noel

Richard Paul Evans created another one of his masterpieces when he authored Finding Noel. Evans uses his main character, Mark Smart, not simply as a focal point around which to weave a good story, but also to reveal wise insights into life through his diary entries. Mark Smart, who has a very strained relationship with his father, finds himself in Utah when his beloved mother dies unexpectedly in Alabama. Word of her death reaches him after the funeral and burial. In his suicidal state of mind he has a chance encounter with a young woman named Macy who changes his life. Macy lost her mother while a young child. She subsequently spent her childhood raised in a very dysfunctional and unloving home separated from her younger sister Noel.

Shared experiences and an empathetic character are effective healing tools. Macy has them but also has her share of hurt. Her search for her sister allows Evans to fuse adventure with human insight. At one point in her search Macy encounters her drug addicted father who she had not seen for many years. Her father was filled with regret. Following the reunion, Mark Smart writes in his diary: "Oftentimes the greatest hurt of our lives come from running from the smaller ones."₁ How many addictive personalities could echo that theme?

Another theme of the book involves perfectionism. Not the perfectionism that keeps us from starting tasks we should undertake although that is a serious problem. The perfectionism artfully illustrated by Evans is relational. We all fall short of God's standards even when we love those with whom we interact and begin with good intentions. Mark Smart puts it more eloquently. "I've come to know that our families are a canvas on which we paint our greatest hopes- imperfect and sloppy, for we are all amateurs at life, but if we do not focus too much on our mistakes, a miraculous picture emerges. And we learn it's not the beauty of the image that warrants our gratitude- it's the chance to paint."₂

Finding Noel is published by Simon and Schuster. It is one of multiple books in Evans' The Christmas Box series.


1. Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans, publisher Simon and Schuster, Copyright 2006, Page 164.

2. Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans, publisher Simon and Schuster, Copyright 2006, Page 301.

The Gift: A Review

The Gift is another fine book by Richard Paul Evans. It is published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. The Gift refers to a little boy named Collin who has healing abilities that profoundly impact the spiritual and physical health of adults in his life. The main character in the book, Nathan Hurst, has a chance encounter with Collin, his younger sister and their mom at an airport. As the ensuing story unfolds Hurst gets close to mom and her kids. He subsequently comes to grips with overburdening guilt stemming from childhood incidents.

Evans is a gifted story teller with keen insight into human nature. He develops his characters well and maintains a flow which has an element of the unpredictable which all good story tellers seem to master. At the end of the book I was struck by this comment by Nathan Hurst:

I've come to know that what we want in life is the greatest indication of who we really are.₁

Change what you desire and you change who you are. Change your values and you change what you desire. Good writers of Christian fiction skillfully weave themes like that into catching stories.



1. The Gift, by Richard Paul Evans and published by Simon & Schuster, copyright 2007; Epilogue, Page 231 (large print edition).

A Review of Gideon's Gift

I read Gideon's Gift, (published by Warner Faith) a short novel authored by Karen Kingsbury, which highlights the power of God working through the unpretentious innocense of a child. The main characters in the novel are a young girl named Gideon and a homeless man named Earl. Gideon is tender hearted and possesses great faith in God's willingness to perform a Christmas miracle. The miracle is not a self-serving one from Gideon's perspective but rather an expression of hope that Earl, a surly, miserable man, will come to believe. It's a seemingly great expectation of a man who initially rebuffs even the overtures of a loving child.

Gideon is afflicted with leukemia and the twin struggles for her health and Earl's soul parallel each other and eventually a causal connection between the resolution of one of the problems leads to a solution for the other- all unfolding according to a divine plan. It's a very touching story and one that reminds one of the promise of youthful childlike faith and of the freeing power of redemption.


Karen Kingsbury's website is:

www.karenkingsbury.com

She can be reached by email according to information obtained from the book.

A Review of 'Grace'

Grace (Simon & Shuster; Copyright 2008) is a superbly written story by author Richard Paul Evans. It is the first book authored by Evans which I've read but it will not be the last. The main characters of the book are children, Grace is one of them and she is a runaway from an abusive home. She is sheltered in the clubhouse of Eric and his brother. Eric is a boy, a little younger than Grace, who is smart and kind but age appropriately naive. His developing friendship with Grace is well told against a mid-20th century American backdrop. The reader gets a good feel for the times as well as the characters.

The story ends tragically and the pain is felt by the reader in ways that skillful authors have of imparting pathos. But the tragedy is not without the merit of a good accompanying theme about sin, character and redemption. A wonderful book.

'Titus: A Comrade of the Cross'- A Review

Titus: A Comrade of the Cross, which was authored by Florence Morse Kingsley and published by Lamplighter Publishing, is a superb work of historic fiction. It takes place during the time Jesus Christ lived in the Holy Land and the story includes his crucifixion. Stephen, the New Testament martyr, is one of the book's major characters as is Titus; thought by Stephen to be his brother. The author infuses life into the characters while similtaneously maintaining the historic integrity of the story.

Jesus Christ was a first century celebrity in that region of the world. His cures and miracles attracted the attention of, not just the sick but, of common people and religious and governmental leaders as well. That point was effortlessly impressed on me in ways that good artists are adept at doing. Kudos for any author able to use art to further truth. At the end of the book is this short poem:

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is he;
And faith has yet its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.

The healing of the seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch him in life's throng and press,
And we are whole again.

Titus: A Comrade of the Cross conveys the honesty and purity of spirit, by which Christ and his first century Christian followers lived. It emboldens believers and attracts those who do not yet know God.