276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Small Miracles: The perfect heart-warming summer read about hope and friendship (The Sisters of Saint Philomena)

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

I have provided an honest review of this book –“Small Miracles” by author Olivia Atwater – below for purposes of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) Number 8 competition, in which this book is one of ten finalists. Before We Go Blog (where I am one of the judges) is assigned the book, along with the other 9 judging blogs, to help determine which one of 10 books will emerge as the SPFBO 8 Champion. Although there is no impending, world-ending disaster lurking in “Small Miracles” – this is considerably lighter fare. But its lightness doesn’t mean it’s not a worthwhile, intriguing book. I won’t dwell on the story details. It deliberately seeks out the small pleasures of contemporary life that occur everyday and help you wade through the daily grind. Chocolate being one major example. I had already read and very much enjoyed an earlier self published trilogy by the author (E.g. Half a Soul) which gently satirised Jane Austen/Brontë sister storylines by inserting a slightly harder edge to life in those periods, and with more contrarian characters. Maybe that harder undertone to the plot which I’d liked wasn’t quite as clear here as in that previous trilogy. My only other concern was the use of footnotes, which I’m not a fan of, especially when reading in my preferred ebook format. Fortunately their use wasn’t excessive and I saw why they were used in some instances. Anne Booth lifts the veil on this tiny, disparate group from Saint Philomena who find themselves adrift as their convent population drastically diminishes. She reveals the vulnerable people beneath as we gain an insightful glimpse of their all too real challenges, problems, pain, and conflicts. My favorite story is about the father and son who didn't see eye to eye, resulting in them not talking for years. It was only many, many years later that something (you probably thought I was going to mention what it was, huh?) happened to reconcile the two.

First things first, this book has a gorgeous cover. It’s been teasing me all month just begging to be read. In a good book, events that seem unrelated never are. That's why I eventually added 'suspense' to my list of shelves for Small Miracles. There are secrets, and they need to come out. There are people who hide their hurts, and those need to come out to heal. And there are lots of people trying very hard to be nice, and forgetting to be nice to themselves. If that doesn't sound like something you'd like to read, then I'm sorry, because it led to a splendidly warm and humorous book where you become friends with nearly everybody. Holly is absolutely lovely, yet complicated, and her childhood traumas have influenced her adult life, and hold the sad key to why she is so staunch in her virtue. Why is it that good stuff like miracles only happened ages ago? How unfortunate that people today only get to read about miracles. It’s a MiracleThe heart of Christianity is that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world at a point in history in the past to reveal what God is like and to accomplish salvation for all who believe in him by dying and rising again. Miracles cluster around that appearance in history in Jesus and in the life of the apostles to vindicate his claim and their writings. My first observation is that we shouldn’t think of the Bible times, either Old or New Testament, as times in which saints of God consistently did miracles. That would be a distortion of the biblical record. They were few and far between in the Old Testament. They were uniquely concentrated in Jesus and his apostles in a very special, Christ-exalting way. They are shared in part through spiritual gifts with all the saints. Countless Miracles For a story set around nuns, I did expect prayers and blind faith in God to be part of the plot. But most of this comes across as balanced and not fatalistic. The only thing that irked me was Sr. Margaret’s tendency to “talk to the Lord” after every few sentences. It was overdone. I love that this book showed an everyday side to nuns that general public wouldn’t necessarily witness - the cooking, watching TV, friendships - it reminded me that they’re human too.

They would have had the same question we do: “Why were there more miracles in the days of Elijah, or in the days of Moses, than there are today in the days of the prophets, or in the days of the kings?”Set in the 1990's, The convent once busy and bustling and running the local girls school, is now down to just Sister Margaret, Sister Bridget and Sister Cecelia. The school has amalgamated with the local boys school and the sisters are no longer needed. Unfortunately they still need money to keep the house running and for them to live off. The church roof also needs repairing, so the three sisters are praying hard for a miracle. Then a miracle happens, one of them wins 5 numbers and the bonus ball on the lottery. It gets them out of immediate financial stress but it is not the answer to their prayers. Then a desk is shown on the Antiques Road Show that matches one that they have, not worth a lot of money but in the show, it shows them a secret compartment. A secret compartment that they didn't know about. What they find takes them on a mission to Italy. Divine origin aside, the stories are poorly told when there was a real opportunity to craft something special. Something that makes even the worst cynic in us believe in SOMETHING and smile. It requires considerable skill to write a book that isn't actively a chore to read. A bunch more to write a book that can be swiftly devoured with zero indigestion. It’s just that… I could swear that you were… weren’t you a woman before?“ Gadriel blinked. “Oh!” he said. “I forgot entirely. I suppose most people don’t just change that when they feel like it?”🖊️

It's a delightful book. It's a slow burner about three religious sisters (apparently everyone confuses them with nuns who are distinguished by living in cloistered monasteries dedicated to prayer). Holly’s gruff niece Ella was also a fabulous character, and her teenage life at school provided more exceptional opportunities for character development for all three: Gadriel, Holly, and Ella. Both Holly and Ella are dealing with emotional and psychological pain, and the bond between the three becomes one of catharsis and healing, in unintended ways for all of them. Currently, people have created belief systems that allocate parts of human to a higher power. This renders them somewhat powerless. Humans are divine. Letting go of restrictive beliefs creates miracles. Life is a miracle and miracles occur all day long, every day. A bird landing near you when you are deep in thought is a miracle. Do you see the bird and notice that it is telling you all is well? When coincidences and synchronicities occur, miracles are happening right before your eyes. Because you are connected to life, you are participating in these little miracles. Allowing But fortune and miracles are not just for the religious but for everyone in Fairbridge. The priest Farther Hugh needs a new curate to share the workload and the church needs a new roof. It’s full of everything: love, lust, friendship, relationships, joy, worry, grief, sadness. It is joyful, an overwhelmingly positive and heartwarming.

Other Topics

Being set in modern-day London, there isn’t much worldbuilding per se, and a lot of that happens in footnotes. Some might find that insufficient or annoying, personally, I enjoyed the added tidbits and religious references. We believe the early years for children are crucial and in the past twenty years, brain research has recognized that 85-90% of the brain develops between the ages of birth to five years of age. At Small Miracles, we know this and feel that it is important to offer activities that stimulate and challenge the brain, so we designed our schools learning environment to be a place for children to learn, explore, and play. Yet, true to her advanced sin metrics, Holly proves remarkably incorruptible, despite Gadriel’s initial efforts to inveigle Holly to live a little, and treat herself to some of the better things life has to offer. So Gadriel is forced to up his/her game, and use small miracles to achieve his/her ends. In 1990, two iconic fantasy authors, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, collaborated to write the famed novel “Good Omens” (full title: “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”.

And while this is indeed a less heavy book than “Good Omens” (featuring such portentous figures as the Anitchrist and the four “bikers” of the Apocalypse) the ominous character Wormwood – an inexperienced devil whose mandate is to tempt humans to hell – from C.S. Lewis’s “Screwtape Letters”, appears in “Small Miracles”, to provide an antagonist, if there is one, for the book. Nevertheless, I am glad I read Small Miracles and did truly enjoy the story. The stakes aren’t earth shattering but are very real to the parties involved. The power structures are new and interesting. The ending is very, very well done. Gadriel is a fun and interesting character, and a flawed one as you might expect from a fallen angel. At first, I found it weird that everyone took it in stride when one moment he appeared male, then female, without asking questions much, then again, who are we to question how others want to appear? Ultimately, I liked that Holly, her niece and everyone else around them just accepted Gadriel as they are. Which is one of the messages of this book, although probably not the main one. Still. There are numerous witty footnotes spread throughout the book, again like Pratchett, that amusingly prompt the reader to keep their own personal tally of the sin lost or virtue gained on the balance books. I loved this feature of the worldbuilding, and laughed out loud at some of the footnotes. There are some funny moments in the narration, but the main theme of the story is of friendship, faith, trust, and hope.

Featured Reviews

The writing is completely not my style, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just a conflict of tastes. I didn't like a lot of the humour in it, and particularly in the footnotes, which were annoying enough for me to listen to, without additional ones being added for unnecessary jokes. The change of tone to a snooty upper-class narration for the footnotes also did not work for me at all. dogs/cats, nursing dogs/cats and their litters, dogs/cats recovering from injuries or dogs/cats in need of socialization. We recommend having a separate area in your home to care for foster pets; a spare bedroom, bathroom or I feel conflicted about the rating because SMALL MIRACLES is incredibly readable, funny, and heartwarming — I tore through it within two hours. It’s not a romance, so don’t go in with those expectations (there’s a temporary-ish HFN which makes sense with the story, but it’s NOT a capital R Genre Romance). The heart of the story concerns a hapless aunt struggling to connect with her wayward orphaned niece, and the guardian fallen angel who falls in love with the family. This is so far outside of my wheelhouse that I'm not going to rate it, as it would be unfair to do so.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment