I have provided an honest review of this book – “Small Miracles” by author Olivia Atwater – below for purposes of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) Number 8 competition, in which this book is one of ten finalists. Before We Go Blog (where I am one of the judges) is assigned the book, along with the other 9 judging blogs, to help determine which one of 10 books will emerge as the SPFBO 8 Champion. She has one of the lowest cumulative sin metrics I’ve ever seen. Truly she must be even more miserable than a Greek Cynic…. I want you to tempt her… just enough to make sure she’s enjoying her life?” Yet, true to her advanced sin metrics, Holly proves remarkably incorruptible, despite Gadriel’s initial efforts to inveigle Holly to live a little, and treat herself to some of the better things life has to offer. So Gadriel is forced to up his/her game, and use small miracles to achieve his/her ends. Struggling Sister Margaret is finding it hard to cope with the sudden, crushing responsibilities of leadership for which she feels ill-equipped. Sanguine Sister Bridget, with her sunny, optimistic streak, has her own concerns as she governs her domestic domain.

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?’ 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.To my absolute (and pleasant) surprise, there are queer characters in the book! The icing on the cake was that the sisters don’t judge them for their homosexuality. How refreshing! (Though I must also admit, it is a bit unrealistic. Most nuns I know won’t be as accepting…Sigh!) 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,

This isn’t usually my fantasy stamping ground. I frequently wade through rivers of blood and gore in the company of the most morally corrupt people that fantasy authors can create for me to read. But I have sometimes found that more upbeat reads fill a niche for me and, in general, this story did that. And, I absolutely adore the theme of gods or demi-gods or beings such as angels, interfering with the lives of mortals, and producing unplanned-for results. The overriding sense here is one of hope and optimism, and despite Gadriel meddling to try and tempt Holly to sin, you know everything is going to work out for the best, in the end.TEACHER: In the Bible, a miracle is an act or event that stretches beyond what is understood by science and nature. It is something un-explainable… extraordinary even, that Christians believe to be caused by God acting through Jesus.

They would have had the same question we do: “Why were there more miracles in the days of Elijah, or in the days of Moses, than there are today in the days of the prophets, or in the days of the kings?” In the summer of 1995, three nuns play the lottery to save their failing convent and set off on an adventure to Italy in search of a miracle. A joyful, heart-warming story of friendship, community, faith and love. While companionably meeting up over a coffee, Gadriel becomes indebted to his/her non-fallen angelic bookie and sibling, Barachiel, after losing a friendly wager. Barachiel is the Angel of Good Fortune. 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. 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.The third observation I would make, and this is probably what I would say to the unbeliever who is challenging me, is that the heart of Christianity is not that the kingdom has fully come and all sin and evil is being overcome now in this age. An uncomplicated plot but with complicated, conflicted characters that were so relatable. Over the years I've either been or met people like the humans in this story. The angels too also reminded me of some non gender specific friends and when I read excerpts of this book to them they too were impressed with the way Atwater smoothly writes of gender fluidity. No showing, no info dumps or "telling" it just was. I quote one paragraph that I particularly liked… In the midst of the American Civil War we are introduced to Captain Robert Ellicombe in his home state of Virginia in 1862. During a terrible battle, Captain Ellicombe finds personal tragedy ….but within that personal tragedy he finds something beautiful, something that has become a symbolic piece of American history. I feel conflicted about the rating because SMALL MIRACLES is incredibly readable, funny, and heartwarming — I tore through it within two hours. It’s not a romance, so don’t go in with those expectations (there’s a temporary-ish HFN which makes sense with the story, but it’s NOT a capital R Genre Romance). The heart of the story concerns a hapless aunt struggling to connect with her wayward orphaned niece, and the guardian fallen angel who falls in love with the family.

The plot of the novel appears simple and fun, at first glance. Described as eminently unremarkable and plain-looking, Gadriel, the chocolate-loving, gambling-addicted main character, is the Fallen Angel of Petty Temptations. But he/she has “fallen” more over policy violations than any real horrific sin. There were components of the plot that I felt weren’t fleshed out enough, particularly regarding the math teacher interactions. Overall, that is the main reason my enjoyment wasn’t higher, I just wanted this book to be longer. The other component I felt that took me out of the story at times were the points tallies at the beginning of each chapter. Things like lying or eating chocolate are negative points but helping elderly people cross the street or holding open a door give you positive points. It just took me out of the story a bit as the math is presented in the footnotes that are especially challenging to read on a kindle and I ended up just ignoring them at times. Even though he gave his disciples authority to do miracles also, they knew that there was something utterly unique about this man and the way he did miracles. The authority and power uniquely resided in him as the very Son of God. Few and Far Between Even though there were gifts of miracles and gifts of healing and gifts of exorcism that are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12, it would be a huge stretch to think that the Christians with those gifts in the first century were performing miracles the way Jesus did. Already, in the first century, outside the life of Jesus, things had changed. Set in the 1990's, The convent once busy and bustling and running the local girls school, is now down to just Sister Margaret, Sister Bridget and Sister Cecelia. The school has amalgamated with the local boys school and the sisters are no longer needed. Unfortunately they still need money to keep the house running and for them to live off. The church roof also needs repairing, so the three sisters are praying hard for a miracle. Then a miracle happens, one of them wins 5 numbers and the bonus ball on the lottery. It gets them out of immediate financial stress but it is not the answer to their prayers. Then a desk is shown on the Antiques Road Show that matches one that they have, not worth a lot of money but in the show, it shows them a secret compartment. A secret compartment that they didn't know about. What they find takes them on a mission to Italy.

Featured Reviews

And while this is indeed a less heavy book than “Good Omens” (featuring such portentous figures as the Anitchrist and the four “bikers” of the Apocalypse) the ominous character Wormwood – an inexperienced devil whose mandate is to tempt humans to hell – from C.S. Lewis’s “Screwtape Letters”, appears in “Small Miracles”, to provide an antagonist, if there is one, for the book. His/Her purview is minor transgressions. He’s/she’s not really evil despite the fallen angel status, but rather mischievous, and his/her agenda is not really sinister. What Gadriel does is prod humans to succumb to minor temptations, and thus achieve overall increased happiness and satisfaction with their lot in life. Okay. So, just one look at my name and you may figure I’m a fan of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book, Good Omens. You would be correct, reader.