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THE WET ENGINE: Exploring the Mad Wild Miracle of the Heart
Brian Doyle
Paraclete Press, 192 pp., $17.95

Our heartbeat is something we take for granted—until it quits, or skips a few thumps. Failed hearts kill more women and men in America than the next seven causes of death combined. With these statistics in mind, we may find ourselves as [University of] Portland magazine editor Brian Doyle did, searching for details and deeper meanings surrounding this "bloody electric muscle."

When Liam, one of Doyle's twin sons, was born missing a chamber in his heart, it sent Doyle on a quest to understand this mysterious organ and those who work to repair it. He creates a chain of stories that are by turns personal memoir, autobiography, tribute, lecture, history, poetry, and even, improbably, a call for social justice. Stories matter, Doyle believes, and "all stories are, in some form, prayers."

Doyle's narrative introduces fascinating factual, historical, and spiritual ideas about the heart. Imagine, Doyle tells us, God incarnate with a human heart! We wrestle with our hearts all the time, Doyle writes. "We are verbs. What we want to be is never what we are. Not yet. Maybe that's why we have these relentless engines in our chests, driving us forward toward what we might be."

Wonder, awe, and amazement are on every page.

KNITTING: A Novel
Anne Bartlett
Houghton-Mifflin, 224 pp., $23

In her debut novel, Australian author Anne Bartlett, who has written extensively on the Aborigines and related issues (The Chairman), has penned a quiet, literary book exploring grace, loss, suffering, community, and forgiveness. She develops these themes through the lives of two very different women, Sandra and Martha.

Sandra, a newly widowed academic, grieves the recent loss of her husband. To distract herself, she envisions creating a textile show of knitted garments from the past hundred years. To make her idea a reality, Sandra needs a skilled craftsperson to create the items from old patterns.

She meets Martha, a frumpy, uneducated widow and excellent knitter who is lugging around three large bags for reasons no one understands, but which represent her mental suffering.

God then works subtly to knit these two frayed souls together. As C.S. Lewis often did, Bartlett (the wife of a Baptist minister) offers images and situations that can double as Christian symbols or not, depending on the reader's perception.

The transforming power of grace shines through the narrative.

HER HEART CAN SEE: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby
Edith L. Blumhofer
Eerdmans, 389 pp., $20

"Blessed Assurance." "Rescue the Perishing." "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross."

You've likely sung lyrics penned by Christianity's most prolific songwriter, Fanny Crosby, who during her 90-plus years cranked out more than 9,000 hymns and numerous popular lyrics. Wheaton College history professor Edith Blumhofer's biography is a leave-no-stone-unturned look at the life of this beloved woman, and sets her well in her era.

Despite—and maybe because of—her blindness, Crosby lived an independent life free of the gender expectations that hampered other women of her time. Because, as Blumhofer notes, journalists of that period gushed over Crosby as a "Protestant Saint," her difficult marriage and subsequent separation are still largely a mystery.

Crosby met Presidents, mingled with celebrities, and became involved in rescue mission work. A quick study, she was able to dictate endless poem and song lyrics at a moment's notice. Patriotism, the classics, nature, relationships with friends and family, and the Bible shaped her words. While many today find Crosby's rhymes sentimental, her words remain woven into the fabric of Christianity.

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August 2005, Vol. 49, No. 8