Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good (by Jan Karon)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m so glad I decided to re-read Jan Karon’s Mitford/Father Tim series, which started with ‘At Home in Mitford’. Reading around one a month means that I haven’t become at all bored of the characters in these novels, but have no problem recalling who is whom when I pick up the next one. I’ve just finished ‘Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good’ which I first read only six years ago, but had entirely forgotten.

In the last few books, Father Tim had been travelling in his early retirement years, but now he’s back in Mitford, a small town in the Eastern part of the United States, trying to keep fit and wondering what his role in life is now. He’s not the kind of person to slow down and relax for long, and he’s certain God has something for him. He’s just not quite sure what.

Tim’s wife Cynthia is a well-known children’s writer and illustrator, and she’s in the throes of a new book. But she’s getting tired, and struggling to see properly. Their adopted son Dooley is in the last year of his bachelor’s degree, planning to study to be a vet. Dooley is very close to his friend Lacey, and Tim and Cynthia hope they’ll get married one day, but neither is quite ready for commitment. Both had very difficult childhoods, and a lot of issues to work through.

Dooley’s younger brother Sammy is the biggest problem in the family; he loves to play pool, and is very talented at it, but he’s an angry teenager, who smokes and swears and cares for nobody but himself. Tim hopes that by offering continual forgiveness and grace, he will eventually emerge from his angry cocoon, but it’s not easy, and Sammy’s behaviour becomes more challenging as the book progresses.

There are plenty of incidents involving much-loved residents of Mitford, and the book is written in its somewhat informal style, mostly from Tim’s viewpoint as he interacts with and prays for the people around him. Having finished it I’m aware that there’s not a whole lot of plot; it’s another few months in Mitford, almost as if it were a soap. And yet it’s such engaging writing, with such excellent insights into the different characters that I kept reading, often several chapters at a time.

I think this is the first book where Coot Hendrick has been more than just a name; I had forgotten that he lived alone with a very elderly mother, so he’s probably in his sixties or even seventies, but has never learned to read. The attempts of some of his friends to teach him, with the help of Dr Seuss’s writing, are both poignant and, at times, amusing in a low-key kind of way.

There is inevitably some Christian input; the author is a believer, and the series focuses on an Anglican priest who is very committed to God. But it doesn’t come across as preachy or pushy; Tim plays his role, living out his beliefs, and when others want to join him, he lets them know how to do so.

While it’s not necessary to have read any of the earlier books - where necessary, background information comes into the story, though not intrusively - a series like this feels so much more rounded when read consecutively. People change, and I like knowing what happened previously when an incident is mentioned.

As a standalone book or introduction to the series, I think the number of characters would be a bit overwhelming, but as a continuation of Father Tim’s ministry and the Mitford series, I would recommend it highly.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews