>>> In The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow by Joyce Magnin

(Abingdon Press, p, $13.99, ISBN: 9781426701641), the people of Bright’s Pond, Pennsylvania, consider Agnes Sparrow the town’s go-to person when they need a miracle. The obese woman no longer leaves her home, but welcomes any who want prayer. Griselda, her sister, became her protector years before, when bullies tormented the overweight girl. Although she longs to soar past the mountains and see the world, Griselda set aside her dreams to lives with Agnes, her life revolving around caring for her sister’s needs.

When the townspeople decide to erect a sign paying tribute to Agnes, Griselda fights the idea, but the council proceeds against the two sisters’ wishes. Then a stranger comes to town seeking a much-needed miracle, and tragedy strikes. Soon the long-term consequences of bullying, wrongdoing, and poor choices are revealed.

Nothing can erase the past or alter the present, and the people of Bright’s Pond must realize Agnes isn’t a saintly miracle worker, but a very human saint.

Magnin creates a quirky-but-endearing cast of characters struggling with human frailty in the early ’70s. Readers will be reminded that respecting someone is fine, but honor and reverence belong to God—

the author of justice, grace, and mercy. —Kim Peterson What happens when people

mistake a good person for a

miracle-worker?

The Prayers of

Agnes Sparrow

Joyce Magnin

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Reviews

The Sacred Cipher

Terry Brennan / Kregel Publications

Subject: Fiction p $13.99 ISBN: 9780825424267

Tom Bohannon, executive director of the Bowery Mission in New York City, is thrilled when construction

workers accidentally discover a secret room behind the organ pipes in the mission’s chapel. The room contains an impressive collection of ancient manuscripts and scrolls that a former mission president had stashed there a century earlier.

One of those documents stands out above all the others. It’s accompanied by a letter from famed British preacher Charles Spurgeon warning that the scroll is one of

the most dangerous documents in existence, and that there are men willing to commit murder to possess it.

Bohannon soon learns that this danger still exists when he barely escapes an attempt on his own life. He gathers a team of colleagues and experts to help him get to the bottom of what the strange symbols on the scroll mean and why the document stirs such passions.

The scroll doesn’t easily give up its

secrets, but Bohannon’s team slowly unravels its meaning, and the implications are astonishing. What they uncover sends them on a mission that risks not only their own lives but also risks cataclysm in Middle East politics.

This novel is an enjoyable and well-researched blend of history, archaeology, intrigue, and adventure. The book has some flaws—the dialogue is sometimes less than believable, and some of

the more sentimental
scenes are handled
awkwardly. But fans of
Indiana Jones movies or
books like The Da Vinci
Code will find plenty
of thought-provoking
suspense to keep them
on edge to the very last
page. —Joseph Bentz

Gone to Green
Judy Christie / Abingdon Press
Subject: Fiction
p $13.99 ISBN: 9781426700248
Gone to Green is an
addictive, relaxing and
guiltlessly indulgent
tale about Lois Barker,

42 CBA Retailers+Resources | 08/09.09

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