My friend wrote a book. Sounds so brief and to the point, doesn't it? As if she got up a couple of weeks ago, and after a breakfast of Special K and coffee, picked up a pen and ... wrote a book. Then had lunch.
That's not how it goes, apparently. It's months, even a few years, of work. Hours of labour, not knowing if it will pay off. But this one did - she wrote a book - and it has been published. Pretty darn impressive, I must say.
"After the Snow Falls" is one of those wonderful books that one reads for pleasure, curled up in front of a fireplace (in Muskoka, for example, which is where I read it), or snuggled into bed with a hot chocolate. Located in Canada - which I found rather refreshing. One of those stories where family pain that was buried long ago surfaces in the middle of a present-day crisis (as long-ago pain so often does). And of course, pain is never about just one person.
Carey Jane Clark's style of writing is easy to read - simple, without being simplistic. Rather than fill pages with every single nuance of emotional possibilities, she allows the reader to journey with the story. We all know what pain is. We've been there. In those times, a description with fewer words carries deeper understanding.
I won't give away the ending, but the process of real, gut-wrenching forgiveness - not the superficial, bury-the-pain-again kind - is a theme that resonates with me. I've seen it. I've walked it out. Carey has written about it.
If you enjoy heartwarming, faith-based fiction, in the styles of Karen Kingsbury and even Janette Oke, check out "After the Snow Falls". And don't forget the hot chocolate.
