Review of my Favorite Author & Book

Jamie Langston Turner

I would love to introduce you to, not just one of my favorite books, but one of my favorite authors of all time – Jamie Langston Turner. If you are not familiar with her or her novels, let me strongly encourage you to get acquainted. To date, Jamie has written 7 novels, loosely connected, although not in a series, with some reoccurring characters and places. Not only has she mastered the craft of creating stories that resonate with real life, but she is one of the best modern-day writers I have read. As she has commented, “Some plots go wide and shallow, but I felt [mine] needed to go narrow and deep.”* Her books usually can’t be read in just a day or two, but they are totally worth all the effort. Why? Well, here are just a few of my reasons:

1. Her stories deal with hard issues – you know, the ones that we don’t always want to talk about or think about or even imagine might happen to people we know well. But they do. And in one sense, Jamie’s books have helped me to see how I can love on people in little ways that really count, even if those people are hurting and do nothing but reject my efforts. 

2. Real Christianity played out in Real Life – that’s how I like to think of her novels. To me, they are the perfect combination of “Christian Growth/Devotional Book meets Ultimate Novel.” I’ve come away from reading each one of her books feeling rebuked, challenged, ashamed, and encouraged – and I want my life to be like some of her characters, the ones who really “get it.” The ones who hurt, who get discouraged, who get rejected – and yet they still choose to love Christ and love people in small, but effective ways.

3. Good writers are good readers – I really believe this. And I know the types of things that Jamie reads (she was one of my college professors), which certainly explains why she is such a good writer. And she is good. So, as a reader-sometimes-writer, I love reading her books because I feel that my heart AND my mind have been challenged in new ways. It’s spiritually and mentally stimulating.

Now, in case you feel totally afraid of reading her novels, thinking they will be way too hard for “normal readers” to read through, let me just say that you couldn’t be farther from the truth. Again, her stories are riveting; and once you get into them, you really can’t stop. They go somewhere – but with great depth too (which is why they can’t be read too quickly). Jamie always said that “a work of fiction can powerfully illustrate God's truth.”* And hers powerfully do. I’ve loved reading through each of her books; and I come away from each reading feeling an urgent need to live out even more my relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Some Wildflower in My Heart

My personal favorite of her works is Some Wildflower in My Heart, the second of her novels that takes place in the South Carolina Upstate region (where I lived for about 10 years). I hesitate to share a simplified version of this book, mainly because, as Jamie herself says, “too much [gets] lost in the attempt to reduce a short story or novel to a mere summary.”* Instead, I want to include  a note that Jamie wrote to her readers as an introduction to the book, sharing how this story had its beginnings:

“Dear Reader, 

I was at my son’s soccer game one night when the idea for Some Wildflower in My Heart came to me. Though the bleachers were almost empty, for some reason I chose to sit near an older woman. Bundled up against the cold, she sat with hunched shoulders and frowned at the action on the field, never even looking in my direction.

The first half of the game was over before I got up the nerve to speak to her. I learned that she was the grandmother of one of the boys on the field. Her only daughter had been killed ten years earlier in a car accident, leaving an infant son. ‘I used to go to church until God let my daughter die,’ she said to me. ‘Any God who would do that …’ She trailed off, shaking her head. I knew that night that my next book would be about a woman who had suffered and turned away from God.

This was the beginning of Some Wildflower in My Heart, which grew to be the story of two women instead of one. I hope Margaret and Birdie become your friends, and I hope the message of their story enriches your life.” –Jamie Turner 

It feels too simplistic to say that her books have enriched my life, but they have. Like Margaret in this story, “I am a great keeper of secrets and have many to keep” (p. 12). But this book was instrumental in drawing me out of myself and helping me to see the burdens and heartaches of others, not just my own. Without wasting too much more of your time, let me share one last story with you: 

Ready to teach - first day of school

During my second year of teaching college-level English to freshmen, I began meeting with one of my students who, because of some very difficult circumstances in her life, had utterly rejected the notion that God loved her (let alone anyone else). However, she was open to seeing if I or anyone else could really prove that Christianity was real. I shared my heart with her one night, but I knew that I really couldn't say anything to convince her. So I just decided to show her love and kindness and give her my time and attention - and I also encouraged her to read this very book. I remember her telling me that, after she'd started reading it, should couldn't believe that someone had actually put into words everything she'd been thinking and feeling for a long time - and had answers to those thoughts! 

The short version of this story is that after about 6 months of a number of us just spending time with her and sharing God's love, she finally came to accept the fact that she needed God's forgiveness and love to heal her heart - and boy, was she a new and amazing person after this transformation! She also told me at one point that she had met a lady on a plane trip with a similar history and gave her a copy of this book to read to see if it answered her questions. Who knows where that might lead? But as Jamie has said, sometimes "a story can get its toe in the door where a sermon often can’t."* I think this instance illustrates that very thought. 

The sad news is that Jamie's books are no longer being published in print by Bethany House. However, you can still get her books on places like Half.com and ebay.com. 

**UPDATE: Bethany House now has them available in ebook format here.

A sampling of Jamie's books

The really good new is that Jamie is working on book number eight - and I can hardly wait! It's been almost 3 years since the last one, and I am more than ready. For the rest of you who need to get started, now's your chance to catch up on the last seven before this new one arrives. Happy reading! 

*Specific quotations were taken from Jamie's newsletters, posted on her website at www.jamielangstonturner.com. 
**Note:Apparently her books are also available on BJU's Campus Store website (with a discount for alumni).