A Long Time Comin' - Robin W Pearson

A Long Time Comin’ is the Christy Awards Debut Novel winner for 2020.  Although this story is centered on the cantankerous Beatrice Agnew, it begins when things are not going too well in her granddaughter Evelyn’s life.  Evelyn has just found out that her husband Kevin has had an affair, and she’s also found out that she’s pregnant.  At the same time a little too much curiosity about some letters in a box her grandmother’s house results in her being turned out of the house by the formidable ‘Granny B’.

Trying to find some space to think, she goes to stay with her mother Lis, but rather than finding the solace she’s seeking, she discovers Granny B has terminal cancer.  Then, Evelyn has a car crash…

To begin with, we think that the story is about whether Evelyn and Kevin can mend their marriage and whether Evelyn and Granny B will be reconciled, but this is a book with multiple threads as along the way we meet each of Beatrice’s six children and find out something of each of their own hopes and troubles.  

Pearson’s characters are ‘real’ and flawed.  They make bad choices at times and live with the consequences, but in some ways this makes the story more grounded and enables the reader connect in a way they may not with some other Christian novels where the real world can seem strangely distant.  The faith elements are well woven throughout and yet this book never feels preachy.  The lead women are all very strong willed and sometimes frustrating to the reader as well as their relatives!  

This is a story which challenges the issues of loving and living, when both elements are rooted in sometimes harsh realities, and where long held secrets impact lives both while they are kept, and when they are revealed.  There’s a strong element too of being reminded that things can be very different in reality from how they appear on the surface.  An involving and immersive read.

9781496441539, Tyndale House

Note: for transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.