On the Bookshelf: Christy

 Don't let the girly-sounding title fool you. 

This is not just some sappy coming-of-age Christian romance novel from the '60s.  For years I think I avoided reading Christy because the modern versions have Kellie Martin on the cover, and it looked a little bit cheezy. 

See?

 But a few years ago in a used book store, I picked up what I assume to be an original hardback edition, and I was not disappointed. 

Christy is a coming-of-age novel.

It is Christian. 

It is from the '60s (but set in 1912). 

But the book is honest and real.  Surprisingly so, I thought.  I'm sure it must have been censored by some Christians upon its initial publication.  

This is the author, Catherine Marshall. 

Does she look like she would write fluffy stuff?

Christy tells the story of an affluent young19-year-old school teacher from a prominent Asheville family who volunteers for a mountain mission and finds herself in charge of a one-room school house of 67 children.  The novel is largely biographical of the life of Catherine Marshall's mother, Leonora, but is set down in the form of fiction (akin to the Little House on the Prairie series). 

I am reading it for the third time in four years.   I can't help it -- when the weather turns cool and the leaves turn crunchy, I have to pick it up again.  

I find myself drawn to the mountains, their shadows, and their secrets.   Maybe it's because I grew up on the sun-baked plains of South Georgia, but I would take the mountains over the beach any day.  Add to that the history of the Scottish mountain settlers, preserved in a time capsule for lack of roads and technology, and I am hopelessly intrigued. 

What I like most about Christy, though, is the insight to both human and spiritual nature that Catherine Marshall brings to bear on this Appalachian tale.  Her voice is wise, provocative, and picturesque.

And to top it off, Catherine attended Agnes Scott, and her husband briefly pastored a church very dear to me, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.  Nice little connection. 

You should be able to find this goody easily at the library or on the web -- on Amazon, it starts at $.01.  Pretty affordable.  Enjoy!

And if you want to take a little roadtrip to 'ChristyFest' next summer, you might get to tour the mission church in Tennessee where "Christy" taught school. Maybe you'll have a picnic lunch of pot likker and corn bread.  Just stay away from the white lightnin'.