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by Robin W. Pearson
To hear Beatrice Agnew tell it, she entered the world with her mouth tightly shut. Just because she finds out she's dying doesn't mean she can't keep it that way.
If any of her children have questions about their daddy and the choices she made after he abandoned them, they'd best take it up with Jesus. There's no room in Granny B's house for regrets or hand-holding. Or so she thinks.
Her granddaughter, Evelyn Lester, shows up on Beatrice's doorstep anyway, burdened with her own secret baggage. Determined to help her Granny B mend fences with her far-flung brood, Evelyn turns her grandmother's heart and home inside out. Evelyn's meddling uncovers a tucked-away box of old letters, forcing the two women to wrestle with their past and present pain as they confront the truth Beatrice has worked a lifetime to hide.
"Pearson's excellent debut explores forgiveness and the burden of secrets. Helping Granny B repair her relationships and come to terms with the past gives Evelyn the strength to work on her own family. Pearson's saga is enjoyable and uncomfortable, but also funny and persistent in the way that only family can be." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Beatrice Agnew has spent her life living for others. At 15, she became a mother, and then a single parent after her husband left her a few years later. Beatrice did what she had to do for her family to survive, relying mostly on the Lord and herself. So when she receives a devastating diagnosis and the news that she only has a few months to live, she decides that she will embrace death on her own terms. Part of that embracing is saying to her children what's in her heart, so she calls on her granddaughter, Evelyn, to help write and deliver the letters. But with those letters is another, one that's been a long time coming. Pearson delivers a poignant debut that explores the faith of one African American family. Though it is perhaps overlong, the writing is strong, and the story is engaging, and readers will be pleased to discover a new voice in southern inspirational fiction. Libraries with Christian-fiction collections will want to add this novel to their shelves." —Booklist
"Robin W. Pearson delivers a fresh new voice for Southern fiction, treating readers to an inspiring journey through the complex matters of the heart." —Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
"With a deft hand and an unflinching eye, Pearson tackles the cobwebby corners of her characters' lives and in doing so reveals truths that ultimately help us all to heal ... even when we've convinced ourselves we don't need to." —Sarah Loudin Thomas, author of Miracle in a Dry Season
This information about A Long Time Comin' was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Robin W. Pearson's writing sprouts from her Southern upbringing, her belief in Jesus Christ, and her love of her husband, seven children, and their dog, Oscar. Her novels are "rooted in the soul of the story" and include her Christy Award–winning debut, A Long Time Comin', as well as 'Til I Want No More, Walking in Tall Weeds, and her latest, Dysfunction Junction. Robin has corrected grammar up and down the East Coast in her career as an author and editor and in her calling as a homeschooling mama of many. She loves to share about her faith and her family through her fiction; her blog, Mommy Concentrated; and at conferences such as Breathe, Fiction Readers Summit, and Vision Christian Writers; and with her friends and followers. These people and experiences are the source of all the characters living and breathing in the stories waiting to be told about her belief in Jesus Christ and the experiences at her own kitchen sink. Learn more on her website.
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