Recently, I have enjoyed reading several books by a new author to me, James Markert. This week, I was able to read another of his novels, What Blooms From Dust. I really enjoyed the previous two novels from Markert, All Things Bright And Strange and The Angels’ Share. But this one was a bit different.
In the end, this one may be my favorite of them all; it just took a while to get to that point. I even considered giving up on trying to finish it, but am really glad I stuck it out.
What Blooms From Dust is a story set in the Dust Bowl era of western Oklahoma in the mid-1930s. It begins when a man named Jeremiah Goodbye escapes from prison after nearly dying in the electric chair. With the flip of a coin, he returns to his hometown in the panhandle of Oklahoma, where there are a lot of secrets, mysteries, and tensions, especially among his own family, and even the whole town.
What happens while he is there is nothing short of miraculous. And the town needs a miracle, especially after years of relentless dust storms and drought. Jeremiah learns something about his family, and the town learns something about Jeremiah, and they all learn something about love and kindness.
For the first half of What Blooms From Dust, the story plodded along at a miserable pace, and I found it extremely boring, almost to the point of giving up. But as tensions began to rise, the plot began to pick up, and by the end of the book, I was thoroughly intrigued. Again, it might just be my favorite of all his works that I have read.
The fingerprints of God all over this novel are unmistakable, and the encouragement it brings was much needed. I encourage you to grab a copy of What Blooms From Dust and read it. Hopefully, you’ll hang in there until the end and be blessed just as I was. And then, read some of his other novels. You’ll enjoy them as well.
Ratings & Details For What Blooms From Dust:
- Genre/Style: Christian Fiction
- Story/Plot: 6 of 10 stars
- Spiritual Content: 7 of 10 stars
- Readability/Flow: 7 of 10 stars
- Cover: 10 of 10 stars
- Overall Rating: 7 of 10 stars
Question: Have you read any of James Markert’s novels? If so, which was your favorite? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
I received this book free from Harper Collins Christian Publishing as part of their BookLook Bloggers review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.