Book Review: The Restorer

I’ve written here before about Sharon Hinck‘s books, The Secret Life of Becky Miller and Renovating Becky Miller, and how they spoke to my heart. So when I first knew that she was writing another book, The Restorer, I knew it was a must-read.

It’s a different genre than the Becky Miller books — in a way. I suppose you could call all three “mom-lit,” though I am sure they would appeal to others as well. The heroine of all three books is an ordinary mom dealing with life and faith. But Susan Mitchell of The Restorer is pulled into an alternate reality or parallel universe, so this book is more of a fantasy.

One of the things I like best about it is that at first it doesn’t feel like a fantasy. It feels very real, especially when Susan first finds herself in a very different place from home. The confusion and rationalization she experiences are, I think, exactly what anyone would go through if they really did find themselves in her situation.

Susan finds herself in a reluctant leadership role designed to draw people back to “the Verses” which tell of “the One.” She struggles with whether she can handle it and how she’s supposed to handle it since she is unlike previous Restorers. There are some wonderful unexpected twists, spots of humor, and most of all truths about reliance on the One. I don’t want to tell too much about the story because I think readers will enjoy the discovery along the way, and I don’t want to take away from that. It’s very loosely based on Deborah’s story in the book of Judges.

To me the best of Christian fiction has a good story, a sense of humor, an interesting plot, characters and conflicts that seem genuine, and it conveys Biblical truth something like an extended parable, speaking simply to the heart without browbeating. And I believe Sharon Hinck is among the best of Christian fiction writers.

Let me know if you read this book and what you think.