Send Me Down a Miracle -- Han Nolan
Until the summer that her mother left for the Birdcage Collectors' Convention and the Adrienne Dabney Incident occurred, fourteen-year-old Charity had never thought much about her future: she just assumed that she’d follow in the footsteps of her father, Reverend Pittman.
Everything changes when artistic, worldly Adrienne Dabney comes to town. The first time Charity meets her, she’s smitten: Adrienne talks about living in Paris! With her lover! She takes the Lord’s name in vain! While talking to the Reverend! Twice! That conversation convinces Charity’s father that Adrienne Dabney is "of the devil," but it gets Charity thinking about independence, art, and the world outside of Casper, Alabama. Charity and her father aren’t the only two residents of Casper who feel strongly on the Adrienne Dabney front—everyone else in town has an opinion, too.
Then, Adrienne Dabney claims to have seen Jesus himself, and the town starts to splinter further: some believe her wholeheartedly, some think she’s a liar, and some are convinced that the Apocalypse is nigh. By the time it’s all over, the town of Casper will be forever changed, whether its inhabitants will admit it or not.
For a book that contains quirky characters, some seriously fiery sermons, a disappearance, three deaths, and quite a bit of frustrated screaming on the part of the narrator, Send Me Down a Miracle is a quieter coming-of-age story than you’d expect. Although this was a highly emotional period for Charity, she’s more prone to acting on her feelings than talking about them. And, as she’s telling the story from a much later date, her emotions have less immediacy.
Her narration is funny—especially the details about the people of Casper (Charity’s best friend’s father is a coffin-builder, and always drives around with one in the back of his pick-up: it doubles as free advertising and an ice chest)—but understatedly so: I smiled rather than guffawed. And, it should be mentioned that towards the end, it takes a turn for the tragic—while there’s certainly foreshadowing, the Southern Gothic-ish events of the last twenty pages still may come as a shock to some readers.
_________________________________
Author page.
_________________________________
_________________________________
Book source: Borrowed from my library.