In the Company of Others by Jan Karon (2010)

Jan Karon and her Mitford books with Father Tim Kavanagh and eventually his wife Cynthia and their adopted son Dooley were a balm to my mother and my own soul during my mother's illness. They were suggested by a bookstore worker in Rochester, MN, while I was waiting for Mom to recover at Mayo Clinic. I would usually quickly turn away from a Christian focused "religious" book, but for some reason Tim Kavanagh's (or more accurately Jan Karon's) brand of religion did not raise my hackles, but soothed instead. Though this particular book had nothing to do with Christmas, it felt good to be reading it at Christmas time - instead of some murder mystery. Father Tim and Cynthia go to Ireland for vacation, but of course get totally enmeshed in the people's lives with which they are staying. As in the Mitford stories, the cast of characters is large and diverse and interrelated in complex ways. Plus there are numerous references to those at home - most of which I remember, though it has been a while since I read about them - all before 2005, when I started this blog. Liam and Anna Conor run the B&B they stay at. There is an unhappy daughter, a nasty mother in a castle next door, problems from the past. And then to make things more confusing, but also interesting, Tim and Cynthia start reading a family journal, that no one else has had the patience to read, of a 19th century ancestor, who built the castle. So there are a lot of stories going on. I actually like this, because other books bother me when all you see is a few people and it sounds like they have no connection with all the people that have been in their lives before. Plus Father Tim believes that people can change and heal with the help of God and prayer to God. The way Karon describes prayer, it makes sense to me, and I am almost willing to try it myself.