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Where the blue sky begins

by Katie Powner
2022 / 343 pages

The back cover pitched this as, quirky dying woman meets confident cute guy. Hmmm…. I don’t know if that would have gotten me to pick it up. What actually sold it for me was a recommendation from a friend who’d previously passed along a curve ball that ended up being exactly my kind of book. Now, with Where the Blue Sky Begins, she’s 2 for 2.

I went in not knowing if this was going to be a somber reflective read, what with the 40-something small-town Christian girl Eunice Parker having only 6 or so months to live. Or was this somehow going to be a comedic odd coupling, with the early 30s, non-Christian pretty boy/city boy Eric Larson moving in as her next-door neighbor? It’s a bit of both – as lighthearted as a book about death could be expected to be, but one that’ll still have you thinking about how you’d like to end your own time here on Earth.

Our story begins with Eric Larson arriving from Seattle to fill in as branch manager for a small rural branch of his uncle’s financial company. When his GPS has him wondering where exactly his rental unit is, his inattentive driving sends Eunice and her scooter careening off the road. It isn’t exactly a hit and run, but close enough, so when she discovers Eric is her new neighbor she makes him a deal: she won’t press charges if Eric will chauffeur her to different addresses over the next weeks. Feeling bad, and without much choice, Eric agrees.

And where does Eunice want to go? To make amends. With the ultimate deadline approaching, Eunice is certain that God wants her to seek forgiveness from seven different people she’s wronged. It’s a very different sort of bucket list.

This plot could have been tacky and lame in the hands of a different writer, but Katie Powner has got some skills. Eric Larson starts off as a bit of a stock character – good-looking, athletic, shallow, and a little smug – but these sorts do exist. And as Eric drives Eunice around, he grows. And Eunice grows with him: she’s let her illness shut her off from the world, but now, with a mission from God driving her to where she desperately doesn’t want to go, she’s been given this unexpected angel of sorts, to offer assistance and even encouragement.

Caution

The one caution is only that this isn’t one for younger readers. Eric isn’t a Christian and he does have a girlfriend back in Seattle. A few comments are made that make it clear their relationship has involved more physical intimacy than non-married folks should be up to. But Powner doesn’t get into any details. When Tiffani with an “i” comes by for a short stay, and Eric wants to see how compatible they would be apart from the physical stuff, Tiffani doesn’t make it easy for him. So, the most “explicit” passage would just be a mention made of how she left the bathroom open a crack when she took a shower.

Conclusion

Things could have gotten strange if there had been a romantic angle between the shallow Eric and the dying Eunice, but there wasn’t. The lack of romance is a nice twist – this became more of a “buddy pic” story. I really enjoyed Where the Blue Sky Begins, and if you’re up for a book that will get you smiling some and crying a bit too, you should check it out.

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Adult fiction, Book Reviews

The Man in the Dark

by Douglas Wilson 258 pages / 2019 Some books only merit a quick read, others should be slowly savored, and a select few are so good you just have to read them out loud to your wife. This is that third sort! Savannah Westmoreland, a self-assured school teacher, finds herself in the middle of a love triangle. Except that it wouldn't be accurate to call what the town's biggest businessman feels for her love. Desire...hunger...lust. But not love. And while the church's newly arrived pastor is interested, and seems a worthy sort, he can't get past the walls Savannah has set up. But events – and friends – conspire against Savannah, putting her repeatedly in the pastor's company. And even as he uses these moments to make a good case for his marriable merits, Savannah is still actively discouraging him. Why? Something from her past still has a hold on her. The pastor is trying to get around this obstacle, but the businessman is trying to discover exactly what her secret is so he can use it to control her. This is Douglas Wilson's third novel, but first romance. It is the second of his books that I've read out loud to my wife, the other being Flags out Front. That's really the highest praise I can give a book. But lest you think Wilson is only a two-hit wonder, I'll share that his other novel, Evangellyfish, won Christianity Today's 2012 best fiction award. This man knows how to tell a story. As you might suspect of a book written by a Reformed pastor, there is a lot of theology, from the dinner table conversations to the metaphor underlying the whole story. But conversations about God are a great way to learn about God, and even though the book has a pastor right in the mix, this is not a sermon disguised as a story. This is, instead, great fiction telling something true. And if you think the ending a tad contrived, I might agree with you. But I'd also invite you to consider what the author is saying about this God of wonders that we serve. And speaking of truth-telling, I should own up that as much as I enjoyed reading this out loud to my wife, she didn't get to hear the whole story. That's because when she fell asleep I just had to keep reading. ...