A Common Life, The Wedding Story

April 9, 2001
Fans of Mitford, Karon's delightful fictional village in western North Carolina, will be thrilled with this newest installment, which relates an episode she skipped over in her earlier books: Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding. (He proposed at the end of the second Mitford book, and at the beginning of the third, they were already happily married.) Finally, readers get to see the stunned expressions of most Mitford residents when they hear Father Tim has actually popped the question. Readers learn about Cynthia's anxieties over the pending nuptials, share Esther Bolick's delight when Cynthia asks her to bake her famous orange marmalade cake and hum along as the Lord's Chapel parish belts out "Praise my soul the King of Heaven" at the ceremony. And as usual, Karon works in a few snippets of convincing mountain dialect. While Mitford die-hards will welcome this installment, however, the unconverted won't find much to bring them around; one has to already know Karon's eccentric characters, with all their foibles, to fully appreciate the book. Even Mitford devotees may be a touch disappointed that the trademark lessons about Christian faith that Karon weaves so seamlessly into most of her tales are more or less absent from this slim volume. (When they do appear, they stick out, as when Bishop Cullen pointedly discusses the role of sex in Christian marriage.) Still, don't be surprised if Mitford fans begin serving orange marmalade cake at their weddings, and sing hymn 410 at every opportunity. (Apr. 9) Forecast: Fresh from her 2000 Christy and ECPA Gold Medallion Awards for A New Song (book five), Karon keeps rolling along with the Mitford series. This book will no doubt please the thousands of fans who have written to Karon, asking, "Why weren't we invited to the wedding?" Six weeks before its release, the novel was hovering around the #100 position on Amazon.

Frequent visitors to Mitford will not want to miss Father Tim's proposal to his Cynthia or the opportunity to join the flock as witness to their wedding. There are mishaps on The Big Day, but they are so warmly recounted that each bit of lost luggage or other mysterious delay adds something unique to the event. John McDonough's thoughtful narration is moving, especially as the residents of Mitford think back on their own loves and losses. The heart of McDonough's skill is the level of genuine feeling he expresses in relating Father Tim's inner thoughts. McDonough's kindly voice is perfectly suited to this aural mediation on marriage and community. The last cassette is a fabulous bonus--a lengthy interview with Jan Karon herself. R.F. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine