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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Stayton Public Library | LP VALENTINE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In Katherine Valentine's A Miracle for St. Cecilia's the citizens of Dorsetville saw their prayers answered when their beloved church was saved from destruction. Now, in A Gathering of Angels, new beginnings are in the air. The redoubtable Mother Superior and her nuns bustle to open a retirement home. Harry at the Country Kettle -- absorbed in a budding romance with the lonely town spinster -- welcomes a take-charge waitress from New York. Father James Flaherty faces the challenges of lagging repair work at St. Cecilia's and his growing waistline. But when a young girl is in danger and out-of-town mobsters menace Barry Hornibrook's half-built hotel, it's time for all Dorsetvillians to pull together. When they do, there's no telling what miracles are in store. Katherine Valentine will delight fans of Jan Karon and Philip Gulley. She is an American folk artist who has been a regular guest on Lifetime's Our Home show and an instructor with the New York City Museum of American Folk Art and the Brookfield Craft Center.
Author Notes
Katherine Valentine is an American folk artist. She was an instructor with the New York City Museum of American Folk Art and the Brookfield (Connecticut) Craft Center. She lives in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
A follow-up to A Miracle for St. Cecilia's (2002) is all heart and hope: miracles happen, faith is rewarded, people are ever ready to help in a dizzying mix of challenges: mobsters, foreclosure, cancer, hit and run. All-is-possible-with-God seems to be the subtext of this unapologetic faith-centered tale, set again in friendly Dorsetville, that begins as ailing Sister Regina Francis dies while visiting Medjugorge in Bosnia. The Virgin Mary has been appearing there for nearly two decades, and the good Sister, just before she dies, is handed a rosary--it glows--by one of the three villagers who first saw Mary. The Sister who'd accompanied Regina to Bosnia brings the rosary back to Connecticut, but not before Bob Peterson, a fellow pilgrim and Dorsetvillian, picks up the rosary and his painful arm is cured. Also back in Dorsetville, builder Barry has been swindled by a con man and is being threatened by two who claim to be the Mafia. His best friend Chester has terminal cancer, and Nellie, a middle-aged teacher, is being courted by Harry, who owns the town's favorite gathering spot, the Country Kettle. Nellie is also worried that she might lose the house her family has owned for nearly two centuries. When Father James of St. Cecilia's is run over by the speeding mobsters, the only witness is Molly, a homeless person new in town. Then the terrible young Galligan twins set a fire in the church from which Bob Peterson's daughter is rescued with the help of the glowing rosary. As Nellie secretly takes on extra work and begins writing a children's story, Harry worries that she's seeing another man, since she has so little time for him. Revelations, marvels, and miracles--Nellie finds an agent, who just happens to be the father of a new student, and he sells her book immediately for mega bucks--are normal in lucky Dorsetville. Upbeat and pious, but the relentless cheer wears thin. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Welcome back to Dorsetville, Connecticut, the little town that is the setting for Valentine's series of faith-based novels. In this second outing, the sequel to A Miracle for St. Cecilia's, the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception are about to open their retirement home for priests and nuns. Among the characters familiar from the first book, Father James is sidelined by a hit-and-run accident; Mrs. Norris, his redoubtable housekeeper, still runs the rectory with an iron hand; and Harry Clifford, owner of the Country Kettle, pursues his cautious romance with schoolteacher Nellie. Several new characters are brought into the mix--Wendy, a transplanted New Yorker whom Harry takes on as a waitress; developer Barry Hornibrook, who is running out of time to repay a loan; and Molly, the bag lady who camps out on the town green, to name just a few. Valentine displays a surer touch than she did in her first novel, and handles her large cast well. She has plenty of good material to draw on for upcoming installments to please a growing readership. --Mary Ellen Quinn Copyright 2003 Booklist