As Bright As Heaven

by Susan Meissner
Carver County Library hardcover 387 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Generalities - well-written, fascinating look at the era (1918-1925), great characters, chapters told from POV of the mom and each of the daughters. Don't remember if any were told by male characters.

Pauline, her husband Thomas, and their three daughters Evelyn (15), Maggie (12), and Willa (6) move to Philadelphia when baby Henry dies at six months old. Thomas goes from working in the tobacco barns for his dad to working as an undertaker with his uncle Fred. The impact of the war and the Spanish influenza affect this family deeply. Death is a main character in this book!

Page 70 - ". . . I think that grief is such a strange guest, making its home in a person like it's a new thing that no one has ever experienced before. It is different for every person." So true! This just struck me. Grief is a strange guest that makes itself at home.

Page 116 - "I am suddenly overcome by my inability to understand why some will survive the flu and some won't. Why some babies live and some don't. Why some people pass away in a warm bed full of years while others have their breath snatched from them before they've earned so much as one gray hair." The essential unfairness of this is something I've struggled with. I trust God completely, but would love to ask Him why things are this way.

Page 180 - Without putting a spoiler here, I'll just say that I was sobbing after reading this page . . .

Page 211 - This was almost too much! "Evie was already home and she was sad. Her favorite teacher, Mr. Galway, is dead. And a boy she liked named Gilbert." Enough with the dying! This started to make me think of Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793 . . . what a wonderful way to study history - through fiction! Even depressing aspects of history . . .

Page 225 - "That's how it is. Something breaks, you fix it as best you can. There's always a way to make something better, even if it means sweeping up the broken pieces and starting all over. That's how we keep moving, keep breathing, keep opening our eyes every morning, even when the only thing we know for sure is that we're still alive." Although this is a somewhat bleak place to be, it rings true. Looking for the positives, looking ahead - that's important.

Page 379 - "When something good happens, and even when something bad happens, you want to share it with the person who holds your heart." This is so true! I'm so grateful that I can share with Louie - the good, the bad, the everyday. This is one of the things that was hard about losing my mom; some of the things I wanted to share with her (about teaching, life, etc.) I couldn't anymore.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but was disappointed that Meissner's writing seems to be getting more secular and less faith-focused. She's an excellent writer, but I want to read Christian fiction that challenges and / or grows my faith. This was just a good book set in an interesting era with interesting characters.