Beyond the Storm

Rawston is a small Midwestern town with many characters, the emphasis on characters: talented hairdresser Abigail Durham; handsome contractor Justin Girard; unhappy young father Bob Ray Lathrop and his wife, Heather, saddled with a toddler son, the result of their teenage indiscretion; 87-year-old Selma Tully, quilter and quilt shop owner; and a large supporting cast. When an EF5 tornado levels the heart of Rawston and lives are lost, the survivors face the challenge of better understanding their own lives as they consider the future. Zane (Brubaker Brides series) kicks off a humungous multiauthor series, Quilts of Love. Her writing is polished and when her focus is closeup on people, the pace zips along. The novel has a few too many formulaic elements: multicultural characters, a heroine described as a “spitfire,” the too-obvious metaphor of tatters of cloth made into a quilt. But romance series readers won’t necessarily mind, and Zane bravely tackles the haunting question of where is God when tragedy strikes. Agent: Sandra Bishop, MacGregor Literary. (Oct.)