Ain't No River
Christian readers who loved Foster's surprise hit, Passing by Samaria, will enjoy this second novel, which takes place in present-day North Carolina. Garvin Daniels is a sexy, savvy, successful D.C. lawyer for whom everything suddenly begins to go wrong. Her devoted grandmother Meemaw is keeping company with a much younger man-about-town called GoGo, and Garvin's racist supervisor at work gets her suspended for three months even though her performance is top-notch. So Garvin heads home to Jacks Creek, to look after Meemaw and see if she can't piece her own life together in the process. There, she encounters more problems and becomes convinced that GoGo is a schemer, out to bilk her grandma. This book is one more piece of evidence that Christian publishers are getting serious about producing literary fiction. Foster's prose is often evocative and eloquent ("She wore her hair like a mistake"), and the plot never drags. But the novel is far from flawless. Several plot lines are both predictable and insufficiently explained. Readers will guess by the second chapter, for example, that GoGo is after Garvin's heart, not her grandma's money--but they will wonder, when GoGo finally confesses his affections, how they came about. So, too, it's no surprise when Garvin, hostile to the church of her youth, is magically born again, but readers may not find the conversion convincing when it comes. Still, this is a rewarding read from an author to watch. (Feb.)Forecast: Foster is a relative newcomer to the Christian fiction scene, but the generally unexpected response to her first novel demonstrated the deep market for quality Christian fiction for African-Americans (Passing by Samaria debuted on the CBA bestseller list in the first month of its release). Because of its success, other Christian publishers have been actively seeking fiction to serve this audience, and as a trend-maker, Foster has a significant leg up.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.