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Like Atticus, Hitler's Niece is the work of a Christian writer faithfully fulfilling his vocation—in this case, accurately chronicling judgment rather than grace. But here Hansen shows that he has moved back away from the religious parable, toward the kind of fiction he seemed to be struggling to describe in A Stay Against Confusion. Perhaps the essays helped him discover a new way of setting his faith at the center of his stories. And now that the essays have been published, perhaps Hansen can get back to work on his next novel. There are plenty of essayists in the world, but a good storyteller is a rare commodity.

Susan Wise Bauer is author of Through the Darkness Hide Thee and The Revolt.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Ron Hansen's A Stay Against Confusion, Mariette in Ecstasy, Atticus, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Desperados are available at Amazon.com.

A collection of Hansen's short stories, Nebraska: Stories, is also available at Amazon.com along with a few sample pages.

The Nebraska Center for Writers has an online compilation of what critics have said about Hansen's works, including A Stay Against Confusion.

Susan Wise Bauer's Though the Darkness Hide Thee and The Revolt are available at Christianbook.com.

Last year, she wrote in Christianity Today that Christian fiction "isn't what it used to be."

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November 12 2001, Vol. 45, No. 14