A Place Called Hope, by Philip Gulley continues the saga of Quaker Pastor Sam Gardner. Time has marched on for Sam in Harmony. One son leaves for college and the other prepares to join the army after graduation from high school. His wife is suffering from empty nest syndrome. Sam wonders about his vocation. Is he still useful as a pastor? Should he have settled in as pastor of the Friends Meeting in the town where he grew up? What should he do in his midlife? Change is everywhere and Sam isn’t sure how to deal with it.
In this installment, Sam agrees to help out the ill Unitarian minister by officiating at a wedding in the Unitarian Church. Not till the happy couple is at the altar, though, does Sam realize that both participants are women. He agrees to pray for them (as a wedding in Indiana technically is illegal) and releases the proverbial tempest. Everyone has an opinion on what Sam should have done in the situation. Few agree with his actual actions. Will he become unemployed or do what it takes to continue in his position?
In his usual empathetic and humorous style, Gulley narrates the saga of Sam dealing (or sometimes not actually dealing) with the consequences of his actions. Gulley paints Sam and other characters (family members, church members, townspeople and church officials) as authentic people with both good and bad aspects of their personalities. Sam’s efforts to traverse the difficult path caused by the idiosyncratic actions of the people in his life create a lovable and entertaining story. It is so gentle that the reader almost doesn’t notice till the end that Gulley has deftly dealt with many of the huge issues of life. Fans of the Harmony series won’t be disappointed.
On Tuesday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m. Gulley will talk and sign copies of A Place Called Hope at Bookmamas, 9 Johnson Avenue.