The middle-agers'love story rings quietly true, meanders through a couple of volumes without a single x-rated page, but passionate at the level of the heart. One lovely set of chapters in the second volume recalls the nearly extinct, fine art of letter-writing... made me sit down and write a few.

An old preacher I once knew told me "some things are better 'felt' than 'telt.'" Karon is of that school; her village is a metaphor for the dailiness of our lives, and her presentation of the flawed and foibled villagers is done with humor and humanity.

Some may protest that her protagonist, Father Tim, is too good to be true. In a way, he is--but I'm guessing he's meant to be a kind of Incarnation--No compromise here with evil, but instead a way out; the offer of redemption, usually accepted--with plenty of rejoicing all around. Set in the church, the context lets Karon do theology with plot, character and setting, and it works.