Angel in Aisle 3

December 7, 2015
In this true story, West, senior pastor of Expression Church of Huntington, W.V., describes a transformative encounter. When a bedraggled man named Don first approaches West at his corner grocery store, West has no idea that both their lives are about to change. West has just hit the bottom of a downward spiral of guilt and hopelessness. After resigning from his job as the v-p of a bank after illegally approving loans, West decides to open the grocery for financial security while he awaits his legal penalties. He reads scripture and watches sermons behind the counter. Don appears the day after West decides to pray for help and immediately takes interest in the Bible that West is leafing through, pointing out complicated passages that bring Don to tears. The two strike up a friendship around interpreting scripture. "He was more to me than simply a spiritual mentor," West writes. "We had become spiritually tied together, traveling on separate yet related paths." West's heart-wrenching yet hopeful story of learning to accept God's forgiveness will inspire readers who have found themselves on the brink of despair.

November 15, 2015
Though West was a strong Christian, his work in 1998 at a bank involved fraudulent loans, and he resigned, taking over a small grocery store in Ironton, Ohio, while he waited for an indictment and prison. In the small town where he lived, this was big news, and many townsfolk shunned West; his wife, Leesa; and their two small daughters. But they carried on, now scraping by, even while West began giving groceries to poor people who couldn't afford to buy them. But he never suspected that one of the most raggedy customers, Don, would turn his life around, nor that he would also help Don, who had brilliant and eye-opening biblical interpretations, many of which West reproduces here. Don eventually moves into a senior-housing unit, where he makes friends; and West goes to prison, where he is able to share the religious insights Don gave him with the other prisoners. Readers need not be Christian to be inspired by the lessons shared here by West and coauthor Edwards, especially the value of learning to look past the outer appearance of strangers. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)