EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT
Brenda K. Jernigan, . . Harmony, $23 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-609-60790-9
Maggie Davidson, the narrator of this earnest first novel, is an old-fashioned girl. She's a regular churchgoer in her little North Carolina town; she helps her indomitable Granny run the tobacco farm where Maggie and her fey but loving mother, Lily, live; and she is honest, kind and dutiful. When, at age 10, she sees a vision of God as a woman, it's no surprise to the reader, since all the women in this story are stalwart and truly pious, while the men—with one exception—are feckless (Maggie's alcoholic father, who has left the family), mean and domineering, bigoted or worse. When Maggie discovers she has healing powers, she becomes a celebrity, but she never loses her sincere piety and her virtue. By the time Maggie reaches her late teens, an article in
Reviewed on: 05/28/2001
Genre: Fiction