2021-02-08
A novel tells the story of a Christian women’s group over the course of four decades.
The tale of the informal social group that forms the heart of Wilson-Mack’s brief book begins in South Carolina in 1939 with a woman named Anna “Ma” Kirkland-Wilson and her “supporting consultant,” Grandma Carrie. The two cohorts are often called “Beacons of Hope” by distressed women seeking their counsel. The consolations they offer the people who come to them are firmly planted in their collective Christian faith. “God gives hope to us when we think that we have nothing to hold on to,”Ma says. “Hope allows us an opportunity to move to our next step.” These two grandmothers, readers are told, are also “daughters, sisters, wives, aunts, and teachers,” and they’re “adept at organizing and leading.” In the author’s warm, gentle narration, the years roll by, different characters move in and out of the spotlight, and personal crises develop and are dealt with and prayed over. As each chapter delivers a new dilemma and a fresh dramatic vignette, revealing an additional aspect of small-town Southern life, readers are given a surprisingly shrewd and wide-ranging view of a variety of social issues, from coping with the crudities of race relations to raising strong-willed grandchildren. Readers of similar books, especially Helen Hooven Santmyer’s beloved 1982 novel, “...And Ladies of the Club,” will know the women’s club template well. They’ll appreciate how smoothly and empathetically Wilson-Mack unrolls these stories and weaves them together into a narrative in which readers gradually get to know most of these characters. And the author's Christian readers will very much appreciate the smart, real-world tone in which she relates the unfolding lives of her main players over the years. These women don’t live in a rose-colored world; their friendship and faith help them get through some believably rendered tough times.
A heartwarming tale of women embracing their Christian faith and aiding others.
