Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

thomas nelson

Nothing small about it: Review of Some Small Magic by Billy Coffey

Before I tell you everything I loved about this book, a story and a confession.

I have loved Billy Coffey’s writing from the first page I read. And though I had only read two of his books before this one, his writing is among my favorites all time. Last month, I had the opportunity to meet him. He gave a reading at a writers’ retreat I attended in Virginia, and nearly every attendee of the retreat can tell you how I gushed and fan-girled and made an awkward fool of myself telling him and his wife how much I loved his writing. He was so kind and they were both gracious. I mentioned that I had requested his new book for review months earlier and it had never arrived. (My plan had been to buy a book from him but he didn’t bring any along.)

Me with Billy Coffey

“You can have mine when I’m finished,” he said.

I think I gaped at him and mumbled something and then figured he’d probably forget about the offer and it would be no big deal. I’d just buy a copy anyway. But sure enough, after the reading, I approached him to tell him that I lived in Lancaster, where his mother’s side of the family is from, and he handed me the book he had just read from. I felt even more awkward as the ONLY person at the retreat with a copy of the book, so I ran to my friend’s van and stashed it in the passenger side and told not a soul except her (until now).

I finally had a chance to read it and it was worth the wait.

On to the book itself.

Two important notes about this story, in case you judge a book by its title:

1. There is nothing “small” about it.
2. Don’t let the world “magic” scare you away.

I can’t properly describe how I feel about this story, or any of Coffey’s stories. Reading them often lets loose some feeling in me that I didn’t know need to be freed. It is the kind of story that leaves you feeling happy-sad because it is true. There is nothing false about this fiction.

From the naming of characters–Abel, who is not able-bodied–to the turns of phrase and the pace that make you feel like you’re smack in the middle of the mountains of Virginia, Coffey’s writing is nothing short of stunning. (I try not to exaggerate when I review books. I wish I could give this book more than five stars because it is not in the same category as other books I’ve rated five stars.)

Coffey peels away layers of the story in such a way that I was never sure where we were headed. At one point (you’ll know it when you get to it) I gasped because I had not seen it coming. Looking back, maybe I should have, but I was so drawn in by the journey of Abel, Dumb Willie and the beautiful girl on the train that I did not know. Even in the final chapters, I could not predict how it all would end.

It is a rare book that can produce so many feelings that ought to be contradictory but instead are complementary.

Coffey’s books haunt in a good way. They don’t offer simple or easy answers, and they just might challenge what you think is the way of things. You are guaranteed immersion into a mountain culture and it will be hard to walk away.

It’s been a couple of years since I read one of Coffey’s books, but I’ll be reading his other books soon.

If you’re looking for fiction that is spiritual and beautifully written, I urge you to read any one of Coffey’s books. Just be warned that the endings are not tidy and happy like you might think. But they are good and true.

The book I was afraid to read: Review of Falling Free by Shannan Martin

To me, the scariest books to read aren’t the ones that conjure up the most horrific scenarios meant to thrill and terrify us. Nope. The scariest books I read are the ones that challenge me to do something difficult, or at the very least, outside of the comfortable world I’ve created for myself.

falling-freeThat’s the kind of book this is. Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted by Shannan Martin is a book I would only recommend if you are willing to re-evaluate the status of your life. If not, I’d advise you move along. (And while I did receive a free copy of this book from the publisher, my review reflects my opinion only and a positive opinion was not required.)

Martin was living her dream life in a cute farmhouse with her family surrounded by acres of land, full of friends and church family (she used to be known as the Flowerpatch Farmgirl) when that life began shifting in ways they didn’t expect. And it opened them up to so much more.

They gave up the farmhouse and moved into the city, a change that seemed all wrong from the outside: wrong side of the tracks, wrong schools, wrong job. They took a chance that God was serious about less being more, and they’ve discovered that He is true to His word. But it’s a struggle to get there. Martin writes:

In order to live an abundant life, we will lose before we gain. We will be last so he can be first, but no worries, he won’t forget in the end. God promises us gifts of loss and less, and though we know all his promises are for our good, we resist them. (p. 101)

And just because God is in it doesn’t mean it’s been easy. As the Martins moved into the neighborhood and began to open their lives to their neighbors and eventually the men in the jail where her husband is a chaplain, they learned the truth about community. Martin writes:

Community, in its purest form, is anything but pure. It’s noisy. Inconvenient. It demands we com to painful terms with the persistent cultural lies of independence and self-sufficiency, both of which run contrary to the gospel. … To be in community is to be painfully aware of our own unlovability but to offer ourselves anyway. Community simply can’t share space with masks or props. (p. 123)

Falling Free is Martin’s personal story of having her eyes opened to the world around her, but it’s also a challenge for the rest of us to see our lives anew. In the book, she doesn’t lay out a step-by-step plan for everyone to follow exactly in her family’s footsteps. But she does invite us to see in a different way.

One encounter with God’s sovereign love and consuming power can change your heart’s desire on a dime … It doesn’t mean it will be easy or simple or that there won’t be some mid-grade anxiety. There’s a difference between being too scared to do hard things and doing hard things scared. Communing with the God of the universe will inspire all kinds of unscripted movement and giant leaps past “normal.” It’ll make surrendering seem like the safest way. (p. 82)

There’s so much to digest in this book that a once-through isn’t enough. Beyond just reading Martin’s words and calls to step away from comfort, though, I want to live it out.

Falling Free probably won’t leave you feeling satisfied or calm. It might make you angry, defensive or scared. I think that’s okay. Just know that reading it might make you squirm and set you on a new path for life.