Brenda's Gift: A Novel - Softcover

Yates, Cynthia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805421475 ISBN 13: 9780805421477

Publisher: B & H Pub Group, 2000

Synopsis

When Brenda gives Will--a troubled young man--a copy of the Book of Psalms, the book comes with an unexpected bonus, an angel named Bashar-el. Original.

About this title

About the Author:

Cynthia Yates is a popular speaker and an accomplished author whose articles have appeared in Family Circle, Decision, Home Life, Focus on the Family, and others. Her books include 1001 Bright Ideas to Stretch Your Dollars, The Complete Guide to Creative Gift Giving, and Money and Me: A Woman's Guide. She lives in Altadena, California.

From Publishers Weekly:

This tiresome novel unsuccessfully mimics the structure of Marguerite Yourcenar's A Coin in Nine Hands. Generous and sensitive Brenda, a lovely Irish-American high schooler, gives a book of psalms to slow-witted Will as he heads off to Vietnam in 1966. When Will dies, his father throws the volume in the trash. But never fearAit will not vanish into an incinerator somewhere, because it is protected by a guardian angel called Chosen, who looks after the book and its readers. Mattie, a widowed Jamaican stuffed-cabbage-maker, rescues the book from the dumpster and passes it on to godly Joshua Jericho Jefferson. By 1970, the volume has made its way to Carl, a warmhearted trucker and pinochle player. Carl meets up with Nancy, a young runaway in whom Chosen takes a special interest. She reads Psalm 25 and is inspired to reunite with her parents. In 1973, a vehement atheist named Dieter takes the book from Carl, leaving a $5 bill in its place. And on and on, until the book finally makes its way to the Second Time Around Thrift Store. The device of reader pass-along quickly loses its charm, and Chosen's presence is far from ingratiating, as his constant commentary adds little of substance. The narrative is further hampered by the jarring intrusions of an omniscient, moralistic narrator.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: B & H Pub Group
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0805421475
• ISBN 13: 9780805421477
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224