Christian Contemporary Fiction Lovers

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Comment by Nike Chillemi on March 31, 2009 at 2:38pm

I've been thinking about what makes a great heroine or hero.

I think when the author is able to provide a window to the inner soul of the main character(s) and we find a character who not only needs to love and be loved, but who can also deeply empathize with the struggles and turmoil other characters are going through. This character(s) becomes even more dynamic as he/she strives to shield or protect another character from pain.

Loving and wanting to be loved is not enough to make a great character. We all want those things. But a character with empathy, a character who deeply cares about someone or something is a character with depth, with dignity, honor, and perhaps even some class. If this character takes personal risks, allows him/herself to get injured in some way, hurt, scorned, humiliated to shield the one he/she is protecting, then the characterization becomes even more dynamic and rivetting. There is sacrifice. This character stands for something and stands out, a cut above the usual crowd.

These two contemporary Christian works of fiction do just that...

In The Church Ladies by Lisa E. Sampson the pastor's wife at Highland Kirk is hiding what she thinks is a dreadful secret sin. The death of her friend's college age son puts things into perspective, painfully so.

Another Way Home by Christa Parrish is a staggering new book with an almost unlikable heroine. What on earth is Sarah Graham thinking? Just 'cause she's used to living in the fast lane is no excuse for trying to seduce the pastor in an upstare NY small town where most of the town's residents don't have much.