Synopsis:
A homeschooling widow with six kids finds her life thrown into chaos when her pastor announces the whole church is moving to another town–and she doesn’t want to go.

Review:
I just loved When Sparrows Fall. It’s the rare book about Christians that manages to portray a life of faith while still remembering that the characters are people, too. It was critical of things that are wrong in certain sectors of Christianity without condemning the faith as a whole. And the details brought to Miranda’s life were just spot on–I really felt like I knew her and came to really love her and wish that we could be friends.

I’m a Christian homeschooling mom myself, albeit an urban one who isn’t involved in a patriarchal church or marriage. We don’t use corporal punishment and we wear regular clothes. We’ll probably stop at just 2 kids–no quiver-filling here. Yet I’m oddly protective of the women who get laughed at for their old-fashioned ways. Their earnestness and sincerity appeals to me. I loved seeing how Miranda was able to wake up to the things that were holding her and her family back from following God while still remaining fundamentally the same.

Her pastor was clearly a guy to be wary of, yet Meg Moseley held back from making him a full-on wicked villain. He was just a man, with flaws and sins and errors. Sure, he’s dangerous–very much so–but he’s not a cartoon character. I appreciated that, too. And there were some great surprises hidden in that storyline.

Love love love this book.