Light from Heaven (by Jan Karon)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s just over a year ago when I decided to re-read Jan Karon’s ‘Mitford’ series, gradually, with other favourite authors in between, as well as some new books. I’ve just finished the ninth book in the series, ‘Light from Heaven’, which was officially the last of the series. I've only previously read it once, nearly sixteen years ago, and had entirely forgotten the storyline.

In fact Jan Karon wrote five more books, the first couple of them about Father Tim's travels and delving into his past, and then more about Mitford. I’m very much looking forward to re-reading the first four, and also reading the last one for the first time.

‘Light from Heaven’ is set in the year when Father Tim and his wife Cynthia are living in their friends’ farmhouse, while the friends are travelling. Cynthia has some plans for the year, but Tim really doesn’t know what he’ll be doing. And he’s not very good at being idle, despite approaching his 70th birthday. His bishop keeps hinting at a new role for him, but it’s not until some way in the book that we learn what it is.

As with the previous books in the series, this is very much a character-based book, although it has rather more directly spiritual content. Tim and Cynthia meet a lot of new folk, many of them delightful, some of them emotionally damaged, some of them quite anti-God. They range from children to a lady in her eighties who still works tirelessly for the church.

But the book isn’t just about new relationships; it also involves old friends in Mitford, and we see the sad loss of two of them. Tim gives advice where asked, prays for and with folk as asked - or not - and is continually thankful for the blessing of a wife in his later years. Cynthia is a wonderfully drawn character, frustrated at building work in the house, exhausted by cooking, cleaning and looking after young folk, and inspired to start a new drawing project involving her cat.

We meet the Flower family, a quirky group of sisters who, between them cook, clean, bake and sing - and we get to know Sammy, Dooley’s brother, who has dropped out of high school and is passionate about two things: gardening and playing pool.

While this book is a wonderful finale to the series (and all the better for knowing that in fact there are now more), and in a sense it stands alone, I don’t think it would make a good introduction to Mitford. The number of characters is confusing enough to me, reading the books for the second or third time; some stand out beautifully but others blend into each other, and I always find it hard to keep track. And there’s a lot of back story about - for instance - Dooley, training to be a vet, which is only lightly touched upon in this novel.

But, reading it after the others, I found it moving and inspiring. I loved the way the author tied up so many threads without it feeling forced. Admittedly the very end of the book is just a tad too much coincidence and perfect timing to be easily swallowed; but as the most important character in the series is God, whose plans are perfect, perhaps it’s realistic after all.

There were, in my view, rather too many quotations from hymns, prayers and Scripture in this book. Not that I have anything against them, but they didn’t really add to the story. And as with the others, the bulk of the story is beautifully told, with light-hearted interactions between many of the people, and much that’s poignant too.

Definitely recommended if you’ve read others in the Mitford series - and if not, the best one to start with is the first one, ‘At Home in Mitford’, which is still one of my favourite books.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews