Still Life in Shadows, by Alice Wisler

"Come home, come home. You who are weary come home... earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling, oh sinner, come home."--from the Trinity Hymnal

Every time I read something by Alice Wisler, I feel this gentle tug on my weary soul, the part of me that strives to make it in this world--always (it seems) coming up short, ceases striving for a while, as I become absorbed in her soul searching fiction.

The cast of characters include Kiki, the autistic Japanese American eighth grader and her guardian/sister Mari, Gideon, the ex-Amish man with gaping emotional wounds, and his brother, the beautiful pirate wannabe, full of charm and addiction.

Gently, these characters wormed their way into my heart with a stealthy persistence.  As I lived their story, I felt my own story revealed right along side. I think that is truly the miracle of fiction.

Beautifully written, Still Life in Shadows will be a treasure that I hope to share with anyone who loves a great story, and may need a bit of healing balm for the heart.

Bless you!

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Still Life in Shadows River North; New Edition edition (August 1, 2012) by Alice Wisler

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alice was born in Osaka, Japan in the sixties.  Her parents were Presbyterian career missionaries. As a young child, Alice loved to walk down to the local stationer's store to buy notebooks, pencils and scented erasers.  In her room, she created stories.  The desire to be a published famous author has never left her.  Well, two out of three isn't bad. She's the author of Rain Song, How Sweet It Is, Hatteras Girl and A Wedding Invitation (all published by Bethany House).

Alice went to Eastern Mennonite University after graduating from Canadian Academy, an international high school in Kobe, Japan. She majored in social work and has worked across the U.S. in that field.  She taught ESL (English as a Second Language) in Japan and at a refugee camp in the Philippines.  She also studied Spanish at a language institute in San Jose, Costa Rica.

She has four children--Rachel, Daniel, Benjamin and Elizabeth.  Daniel died on 2/2/97 from cancer treatments at the age of four. Since then, Alice founded Daniel's House Publications in her son's memory.  This organization reaches out to others who have also lost a child to death. In 2000 and 2003, Alice compiled recipes and memories of children across the world to publish two memorial cookbooks, Slices of Sunlight and Down the Cereal Aisle.

ABOUT THE BOOK

It's been fifteen years since Gideon Miller ran away from his Amish community in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as a boy of fifteen.  Gideon arrives in the Smoky Mountains town of Twin Branches and settles in at the local auto mechanic's garage. He meets a host of interesting characters -the most recent acquaintances are Kiki, an autistic teen, and her sister Mari. Known as the "Getaway Savior" he helps other Amish boys and girls relocate to life in modern America.

One day the phone rings. On the other end is his brother Moriah calling from Florida. Of course Gideon welcomes his brother to stay with him and offers him a job. But Moriah is caught in a web which ends in his death and forces Gideon to return to the town of his youth, with his brother's body in the back of a hearse and Mari and Kiki at his side. He must face not only the community he ran away from years ago but also his own web of bitterness. Will he be able to give his anger over to God and forgive his father?

If you would like to read the first chapter excerpt of Still Life in Shadows, go HERE.