Almost Heaven by Chris Fabry: A Review
With lyrical prose and colorful characters, Chris Fabry weaves a tale of devotion, intuition, faith, and persistence. Billy Allman is quiet and awkward. He has a heart of gold and a trust of people that leaves him naive and vulnerable. He also has a talent for playing the mandolin. Almost Heaven is Billy’s story, told in the alternating, sometimes conflicting, voices of Billy and his assigned angel, Malachi. Chris Fabry is a master story-teller, but Billy’s story is not one of easy decisions, happy memories, or unchallenged faith. His story is a story of determination and salvation. It is a story that questions the Lord, His care for His children, and His involvement in their lives, and then demonstrates most certainly that the Lord does indeed have a plan for each of His children, and that He uses each let down, each trial, each tragedy for His good, although this is not always evident in the moment. Billy’s story is, at times, overwhelming in its sadness, but in the end, it is a story of faith and love, a story that deserves to be read, and to be pondered.
I received this book from Glass Road Public Relations and Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. The thoughts printed in this review are entirely my own.
Chris Fabry is the host of Chris Fabry Live!, an hour of spiritual encouragement from his backyard radio fence. The program challenges listeners to think biblically about their spiritual journeys. Chris is also the author of the Christy Award-winning novel Dogwood, and his latest fiction release, June Bug. He and his family live near Tucson, Arizona. You can learn more about Chris at www.chrisfabry.com