Review: Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg

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☆☆➹⁀☆ 4 stars ☆➹⁀☆☆

What It’s About:

A delightful novel about surprising friendships, community, and the way small acts of kindness can change a life, from the bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv

Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she has begun to teach baking classes, sharing the secrets to her delicious classic Southern yellow cake, the perfect pinwheel cookies, and other sweet essentials. Her classes have become so popular that she’s hired Iris, a new resident of Mason, Missouri, as an assistant. Iris doesn’t know how to bake but she needs to keep her mind off a big decision she sorely regrets.

When a new family moves in next door and tragedy strikes, Lucille begins to look out for Lincoln, their son. Lincoln’s parents aren’t the only ones in town facing hard choices and uncertain futures. In these difficult times, the residents of Mason come together and find the true power of community–just when they need it the most.

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My Thoughts:

Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg was a bit harder to get into than its predecessor due to the large cast of characters. After the characters have been introduced, Ms. Berg charms her readers with a heartwarming small town story of friendship and love.

We first meet Lucille in Arthur Truluv. I thought night of miracles might pick up at that story’s end, but it starts many years later, basically at Lucille’s end. She has led a long, productive life, and while she might be rather brusque at times, her {late} neighbor, Arthur, taught her to open up and be more giving. In Night of Miracles, readers see how much fuller Lucille’s life became when she did open herself to up to friendly relationships with neighbors and other new experiences.

Night of Miracles is told through multiple storylines that read like vignettes about many of Manson, Missouri’s inhabitants. Eventually, Ms. Berg ties each of the town folks’ stories together by revealing Lucille’s influence on their lives.

The highly sentimental end had me smiling through my tears. Night of Miracles is a lovely sequel to the author’s The Story of Arthur Truluv.