Just in time for Father's Day comes this small inspirational hardcover gift book, a memoir by the youngest daughter of Billy and Ruth Bell Graham (whom she similarly honored in her previous book A Legacy of Love: Things I Learned from My Mother
). While the author does concede that Billy Graham's evangelistic commitments took him away much of the time—almost 60% of his life, she guesses—and that this took a toll on the family, this is hardly a Daddy Dearest tell-all. It is in fact a love song to her father, who comes across in these pages as wise, caring, determined and steadfast in his faith ("I have never seen my father waver in his purpose," she declares). Ruth Graham draws freely upon letters, her father's memoir and her own memories of childhood; the well-designed layout also features intimate family photos of the Grahams at home, adding to the book's behind-the-scenes feel. Ruth Graham has not had an easy adult life: in the book she shares the pain of her failed marriages and the fact that she didn't graduate from college until she was a middle-aged divorcée. (Her proud 80-something parents attended her commencement despite failing health.) Regardless of these trials, she looks back to a loving and almost magical childhood. (May)
