Despite its title, Mary Curran Hacket’s just released book doesn’t offer empirical evidence for the existence of supernatural beings from Heaven. Instead, her novel, Proof of Angels (William Morrow, $14.99), tells a feel-good tale of redemption and personal growth that touches on important social and spiritual issues.
Proof of Angels tells the story of Sean Magee, a Los Angeles firefighter who, after having been forced to jump from the third story of a burning house, must negotiate physical, emotional and spiritual recovery as he works to rebuild the broken pieces of his life. Through his journey of healing and self-discovery, Sean comes to understand that the true angels in life are not supernatural beings — though the novel leaves open that possibility as well — but are the people around him. For Sean, these real-life angels include his brother-in-law, the trainer of his new service dog, and his physical therapist, who all are also seeking to recover from the injuries life has dealt them. This cast of characters, through their love and sacrifices, provide Sean with “proof” of angels.
Proof of Angels is a novel about appreciating the people in our lives, about the importance of friendship and about our need for one another in the midst of hardship. Much of Christianity (and religion as a whole) focuses on supernatural escapism and the distant hope of a future Heaven. While still recognizing the importance of religious spirituality, Proof of Angels seeks to reorient our priorities toward the here and now, toward the people in our lives who we care for and who care for us. Life isn’t about waiting for God to intervene and miraculously fix things, nor is life about simply enduring until we can move on to something better. Life is about being an angel to other people and embracing the angels who are working in our lives.
Unfortunately, the characters, dialogue and plot development of the novel often seemed at the mercy of the book’s message rather than naturally revealing it. Mary Curran Hackett seems unwilling to fully trust her readers to make discoveries and realize connections on their own. Too often she simply tells what her characters are feeling in tedious detail, too often she carefully explains the meanings of metaphors, too often we’re simply told what is important and profound rather than coming to those conclusions ourselves. Heeding the old adages “less is more” and “show not tell” would have gone a long way toward strengthening the novel’s impact.
But regardless of these literary missteps, Proof of Angels provides a good starting point for discussing how God does (or doesn’t) work in our lives, the importance of relationships, the complex motivations that influence our choices, and the challenges that we all face. Mary Curran Hackett knows first-hand about the struggles of life: her personal story is as inspirational as her fiction. And while her new novel isn’t a literary masterpiece, it nevertheless offers hope, inspiration and encouragement that all of us, at one time or another, have needed.
Find out more about Proof of Angels and read a sample of the novel here: http://www.harpercollins.com/9780062279958/proof-of-angels.
Dan Wilkinson
Dan is the Executive Editor of the Unfundamentalist blog. He is a writer, graphic designer and IT specialist. He lives in Montana, is married and lives with two cats.
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