A well-written, frankly religious tale for all ages.
In Anderson’s warmhearted, family-friendly debut Christian novel, ceramic figurines of the three wise men come to life at Christmastime and work small miracles of faith with far-reaching consequences.
A Christian Chinese factory worker’s impulsive blessing imbues a Nativity set’s three wise men and their camel with consciousness. After the figurines (Uncle, Chip, Harold and the camel, Thunder) arrive at a London gift shop, an angel tells them that the Lord has plans for them: Each year, from December 12 until sunrise on Christmas Eve, the foursome will be able to think and reason, and for the duration of Christmas Eve, they will come fully to life. As Christmases come and go, the figurines are passed from place to place: an orphanage, a military submarine, a naval hospital, a retired couple’s home, a pastor’s house and others. They use their once-a-year gift of life to aid and comfort human beings young and old, rich and poor, black and white. In the book’s dramatic finale—a confrontation with the demonic forces of darkness and despair—the angel reappears and shows the little wise men how their seemingly unrelated small acts of faith over the years were all connected. Anderson leavens this Christian book’s evangelism with deft humor, likable characters and a buoyant sense of magical adventure. His small heroes are fully realized individuals with appealing quirks, questioning minds and humble compassion, and they grow toward spiritual maturity. As they “learn about human characteristics of love, devotion, tenderness and kindness,” they reach their own happy ending. The epilogue’s sly little cautionary surprise is also a nice touch.
A well-written, frankly religious tale for all ages.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475144598
Page Count: 198
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...
Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.
Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it is pure temptation.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
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