Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Thomas finding solace in the Convent garden and with Sister Bridget’s cooking is desperate for his daughter to find her spark in life. Also, I just have to note that this book is a whole lot gender. Which ended up in one of my favourite, long-running jokes. (nodnod. So terribly gauche.) The thing is, the dead don’t need anything from you—not love, not forgiveness. Those are things you offer because you need them. The main person who needs anything from you is Ella, and all she really needs is for you to show up every day—” One point of annoyance was the overuse of one phrase - I'll put it in spoilers here so as not to sensitize you to it before you read the book, but come here after and tell me you didn't notice lots of mentions of Holly's cheeks, specifically "the apples of her cheeks" . I also loved the footnotes and the humour within them; it takes a good author to do these well and Atwater does homage to Pratchett (Jay Kristoff did quite well in Nevernight) in pulling these off. I must admit to some muffled laughter and nose snorting giggles on the morning commute whilst reading them. I think my favourite one was…
My answer to this is fairly simple. It’s this: there were fewer miracles in the Bible than you probably think, and there are more miracles today than you probably know, and there is a good biblical reason for why there would be a certain kind of prevalence of miracles in the Bible that is different from today.Currently, people have created belief systems that allocate parts of human to a higher power. This renders them somewhat powerless. Humans are divine. Letting go of restrictive beliefs creates miracles. Life is a miracle and miracles occur all day long, every day. A bird landing near you when you are deep in thought is a miracle. Do you see the bird and notice that it is telling you all is well? When coincidences and synchronicities occur, miracles are happening right before your eyes. Because you are connected to life, you are participating in these little miracles. Allowing For a story set around nuns, I did expect prayers and blind faith in God to be part of the plot. But most of this comes across as balanced and not fatalistic. The only thing that irked me was Sr. Margaret’s tendency to “talk to the Lord” after every few sentences. It was overdone. Wow. If engineering simply colossal coincidences out of a few odds and ends makes them just a little gentler towards their fellow humans - who SAYS they’re all such a barrel of bad apples AFTER ALL?’ Holly’s gruff niece Ella was also a fabulous character, and her teenaged life at school provided more exceptional opportunities for character development for all three: Gadriel, Holly, and Ella. Both Holly and Ella are dealing with emotional and psychological pain, and the bond between the three becomes one of catharsis and healing, in unintended ways for all of them.
This is a gem of a book that I borrowed from my friend, and I'm glad I did. The book focuses on highlighting some of the miracles that have happened in the everyday lives of various people. Many of the stories were about romantic, quite a few were about family and some were about people who were virtual strangers. When it comes right down to it though, the common theme of each of these miracles is the fact that they all revolved around love. The world is more or less based around the modern day without a whole lot added to it other than the religious aspect of angels being real and all that. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I didn’t personally mind since that’s fairly common when you’re writing kind of a biblical fantasy satire kind of thing.
Some of Jesus’ miracles
Yitta Halberstam did my baby boomer generation a Big Favour when she compiled this phenomenally best-selling assortment of real-life experiences. Let me start by saying I was amused and entertained throughout Small Miracles. The idea of a Fallen Angel of Petty Temptation who fell from grace because of their own gambling problem is quite charming. Gadriel, said fallen angel, is in deep with their bookie, Barachiel, the Angel of Good Fortune. I knew I was going to like this, but even I hadn’t anticipated how much. I’ve liked all of Olivia’s books in the past and so I just opened this one up without knowing what the inspiration for the book was.
Whimsy and satire is employed in highly effective fashion by Atwater to convey some fairly stark and challenging themes in the book. Love, loss, grief, death, forgiveness, redemption, family. Atwater shows a very deft hand in handling these issues.This is NOT a review of that book. Yet unavoidably, there will be comparisons between “Small Miracles” by Atwater, and that seminal work by Gaiman and Pratchett. Small Miracles captures the reader's attention with its engaging writing style and witty humor. I especially enjoyed the author's writing style, which is easy to read and captivating throughout the book. Atwater has a talent for creating vibrant, likable characters who are easy to root for and who draw the reader into their world. Until an unexpected series of events (including a lottery win) and several minor miracles occur. They offer new opportunities, jolt them out of their worried reveries, and make them view their lives differently. This delightful, gently humorous story tugs at the heartstrings. Kudos to how Atwater approaches gender fluidity in the novel! As per many interpretations of Angels from a Christian perspective, which denotes them as not being assigned a gender in the way humans can comprehend. Atwater notes in her work, casually, Angels… chose a gender for the day, in rather the same way that you or I might choose a shirt or trousers…
First off I have to say that readers who are a fan of the above genre will like it more than I did. It is slow-paced and meanders through the multiple subplots and characters. You really need to keep your patience with it until you see how things come together. Anne Booth lifts the veil on this tiny, disparate group from Saint Philomena who find themselves adrift as their convent population drastically diminishes. She reveals the vulnerable people beneath as we gain an insightful glimpse of their all too real challenges, problems, pain, and conflicts.While the story delves into substantial themes of love and grief, it does so lightheartedly. There's always a sense of hope that things will turn out okay somehow, though there are times when it exists solely because Gadriel or their angelic bookie, Berachiel are desperately clinging to it. So, this is my 5th book of 2023, and amazingly it only took me 3 days to read. In part because I spent nearly 5 hours on various trains, in part because it's short, and in part because it's a very easy read. And I don't mean that last bit as anything other than a positive. dogs/cats, nursing dogs/cats and their litters, dogs/cats recovering from injuries or dogs/cats in need of Small Miracles is a nice book. It is a soothing balm for these troubled times, a patch of cheer away from real life. Set in the fictional university town of Fairbridge, Saint Philomena's convent used to run a secondary school but the school has been taken over and only three nuns remain. Sister Margaret, the new Superior, is a lovely caring nun but is denial about the depth of her grief for previous Superior Sister Helen, and has no clear ideas about how to manage the convent and the appalling state of its finances. Her fellow nuns, Sister Bridget a madcap enthusiastic cooking whirlwind, and Sister Cecilia, a gloomy historian who spends a lot of time researching the life of the convent's founder in the hope of making him a Saint, are dedicated to the convent but do little except drive Sister Margaret nuts.
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