The Bluebird and the Sparrow by Janette Oke

Oke’s books are often set in a little town that is located in the vague “Old West,” time and place being unimportant compared to her plot and characters. This idiosyncrasy only makes her novels more memorable and endearing, since her characters are the ones that truly stick in your memory and their struggles touch your heart. This book focuses on two sisters, Berta and Glenna, who are as different as sisters can be. Berta, the older, quickly resented the fact that her younger sister, Glenna, was showered with compliments and praise just because she was a beautiful child, who soon grew up to be a beautiful young woman. Berta knew she could never be as beautiful and kind-hearted as Glenna, so she was determined to excel in her schoolwork and other areas. As they grew up, their mother took to calling Berta her “dependable one” and Glenna her “beautiful one.” This unspoken rivalry continued as the girls grew into adulthood, while Glenna married the most handsome man in town and Berta became a librarian. It wasn’t until a series of hardships, the death of Glenna’s oldest child, the death of their grandmother, their mother’s sudden illness, and the destruction of the town library, that Berta was able to admit her vehemence towards life itself and have a spiritual awakening. By the end of the novel, Berta has accepted her role in life, and has even made room for a beau. This is another wonderful example of Christian fiction, showing not only a lovely story with interesting characters without using profane language, sex, or violence, but also having Christianity be a large part of the central characters’ lives. Both Berta and Glenna are two-dimensional characters who stick in your memory long after you put the book down. Oke’s books “just make you feel good,” in the words of one satisfied library patron.

If you enjoyed this book, please consider reading :
Fiction Recommendation #1 : Roses for Mama by Janette Oke. This quiet novel by Oke focuses on Angela’s small family. She and her older brother are left to raise their young siblings after the death of their parents. Readers who enjoyed Berta’s character and its development in The Bluebird and the Sparrow should also enjoy this book and its central female character.

Fiction Recommendation #2 : The Postcard by Beverly Lewis. Again set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, this novel tells the story of a young Amish woman, Rachel, whose husband and children are killed in a horrible traffic accident. Stricken blind, she convalesces at her parents’ B&B, where a kind man, an “Englisher,” takes notice of her.

Nonfiction Recommendation #1 : Janette Oke: A Heart for the Prairie : The Untold Story of One of the Most Beloved Novelists of Our Time by Laurel Oke Logan. This biography on Oke tells her story as one of the first Christian Fiction authors ever, and how her books became “bestsellers,” and eventually “best loved.”