Books

Concluding Mitford

Jan Karon gives readers what they’re hoping for in the series’ final volume.

For nearly a decade, Jan Karon’s bestselling series about the “little town with the big heart” has delighted fans. They will find her trademark talents in full view in this concluding volume.

Light from Heaven(Mitford Years) by Jan Karon Viking, 384 pp.; $26.95

Father Tim Kavanagh and his wife, Cynthia, are on a farm, housesitting for friends. Artist Cynthia is hard at work on a new calendar featuring Violet the cat, while Father Tim undertakes reviving Holy Trinity, a mostly abandoned mountain church. With their (now formally) adopted son Dooley firmly on the right path, the aging couple takes on a new challenge: Dooley’s pool-shooting younger brother, Sammy. And the search continues almost to the closing pages for Dooley’s long-missing sibling, Kenny.

Woven throughout the narrative are hymns, jokes, short sermons, mouth-watering food (and some not so mouth-watering, such as squirrel soup), and colorful mountain characters and dialect. Strong themes of faith proliferate.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Lauren Winner reviewed the book for our sister publication Books & Culture.

Light from Heaven is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

More information about Light from Heaven and the rest of the series is available from Mitfordbooks.com.

For book lovers, our 2005 CT book awards are available online, along with our book awards for 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997, as well as our Books of the Twentieth Century. For other coverage or reviews, see our Books archive and the weekly Books & Culture Corner.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

5 Reasons Torture Is Always Wrong

Ask Not What Your God Can Do for You

Reviewed by Collin Hansen

Serious About Ethics

What Would Jesus Buy?

Learning from Fools

Schedule, Interrupted

Warriors in Battle

Reviewed by John Wilson

Habits of Highly Effective Justice Workers

Rodolpho Carrasco

Morning Prayers

Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

It's a Rap

Jewly Hight

Apathetic Agnostic

Reviewed by Douglas LeBlanc

The Soul Hunters of Central Asia

Manpreet Singh

Palau Pulls Back

Sheryl Henderson Blunt

Balancing Civility and Religion

Reviewed by Mark Noll

Small Is Huge

How Not to Influence People

John Wilson

Bridge to a Place Called Home

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

Major Case on Minors

Mark Stricherz

Some Habits of Highly Effective Justice Workers

Rodolpho Carrasco

Tongues Tied

Deann Alford

Front Line Dilemma

Tony Carnes

News

Indecency Proposal

Brad A. Greenberg

News

<em>Christianity Today</em> News Briefs

CT staff

News

Go Figure

News

Just As He Was

Ken Garfield

News

<em>Jabez</em> Author Quits Africa

Timothy C. Morgan

Unreality TV

Eric Miller

A Tale of Two Kitties

E.J. Park

Islam's Uncertain Future

News

Passages

CT staff

Two Cheers for the Vatican

Rob Moll

Nondescript Landmark

Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan

News

Quotation Marks

Editorial

Close Encounters with HIV

A Christianity Today Editorial

Making Do with More

Tim Stafford

A More Excellent Way

Editorial

We Are What We Behold

A Christianity Today Editorial

Politically Driven Injustice

Andrew Paquin

Disappointed but Holding

Tony Carnes

Mao and Twentieth Century Totalitarianism

Reviewed by John Wilson

View issue

Our Latest

Who Writes History When There Is No Winner?

Lebanon’s civil war is a taboo subject. A group of Christians and Muslims is broaching it.

Review

Review: Angel Studios’ ‘David’

Peter T. Chattaway

Artistically, it’s ambitious. Narratively, it works. But it’s no “The Prince of Egypt.”

My Son’s Last Christmas at Home

Christmastime comes with its own losses and longings. God understands them.

Analysis

Bondi Beach Shooting Compels Christians to Stand with Jews

The Bulletin with Josh Stanton and Robert Stearns

Jewish-Christian friendships offer solace and solidarity after antisemitic violence.

The Russell Moore Show

David Platt on All You Want for Christmas

What if the most radical thing about Christmas isn’t that God came near—but that he came to serve?

Excerpt

The Story Behind Handel’s ‘Messiah’

The Bulletin with Charles King

Meet the unlikely characters who defined this musical classic.

News

The Christians Helping People Enslaved by Cybercrime Scam Centers

Erin Foley in Mae Sot, Thailand

After Myanmar’s military raided a compound, a network of ministries helps trafficking victims return home.

Dreaming Against the Machine

Technologies like AI privilege “growth” and “effectiveness” over imagination and inefficiency. God operates differently.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube