Babe's Bible: Sister Acts
Karen Jones
DLT £8.99
(978-0-232-52980-7)
Church Times Bookshop £8.10 (Use code
CT522 )
WHILE the title and cover of this book shout "chick lit", the
plotline reads more like one of the racier soap operas, full of
rollercoaster emotion and cliffhanger moments. At the start, the
heroine, Grace, is finishing her curacy. By the end, we have met an
extensive cast of characters dealing with people-trafficking,
alcohol abuse, porn addiction, family breakdown, suicide - oh, and
ordinary church life - and Grace is flourishing as a vicar, having
successfully battled lustful thoughts about her bishop.
While a theology encompassing "signs and wonders" is to the
fore, the story encompasses struggles as well as Spirit-fuelled
insights. Grace has little trouble in tuning into what she feels is
the voice of God, but overall there is a refreshing lack of glib
answers or slick happy endings to the various narrative
threads.
This is the second volume in a trilogy (Books, 1 March 2013),
and - as in a good soap opera - the audience is drawn into wanting
to explore the many back-stories (was Grace formerly some kind of
sex worker? And her best friend had an affair with her vicar?), as
well as what will happen next, in a deliciously gossipy sort of
way.
What I did find distracting was the "story within the story":
Grace's own rewriting of events from Acts, interspersed throughout
the narrative. Perhaps the aim is to show that life today has much
in common with New Testament times; so we can therefore hope for
the same dramatic church growth as the early Christians
experienced.
While the reimagining of Mary of Bethany's story was touching, I
found these sections read less easily, and, on balance, I preferred
to hurry through them and back to the twists and turns of the
present-day saga.
Naomi Starkey is a commissioning editor for BRF, and edits
and writes for New Daylight Bible-reading notes. She has
also written Good Enough Mother (BRF, 2009) and The
Recovery of Love (BRF, 2012).
THE third novel to appear in Karen Jones's Babe's Bible trilogy
is Love Letter (DLT, £8.99 (£8.10);
978-0-232-53062-9). As ever, it veers between a modern narrative
and that of early Christians in the Church of Acts, two different
typefaces being used to help the reader negotiate the time shifts.
In the contemporary (or slightly future) story, the PCC discusses
"human sexuality", the Bishop makes a pass, the name of the main
character, Grace, is put forward for the episcopate, there is an
emotional funeral, and a big service in St Paul's . . . but Grace's
thoughts often return to her biblical counterparts.
GP