Snow Day

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Snow DayFaithWords (October 11, 2010)
by
Billy Coffey


About the Author:

When you’re raised in small-town Virginia by a redneck father and a Mennonite mother, certain things become ingrained. And when you marry a small-town girl and have two small-town kids, all you want to do is pass those ingrained things along.

Like believing the best life is one lived in the country enjoying the pleasures it provides—summer nights beneath the stars, rocking chairs on the front porch, deer grazing in the fields. And believing that no matter how iffy life can get sometimes, there are some things that are eternal and unchanging.

But above all else, believing that in everything there is story waiting to be told.

That’s where I come in.

Billy Coffey was raised on stories. The first ones came on the front porches of relatives, tales laced with local charm and deep meaning. Then came the stories from people like Max Lucado and Robert Fulghum, who write with a charm and deep meaning of their own.

Billy lives with his wife and two children in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. If you drive by his house, you’ll probably spot him on the front porch. If you do, give him a wave. He’ll wave back.

About the Book:

In this debut novel, Peter is a simple man who lives by a simple truth—a person gains strength by leaning on his constants. To him, those constants are the factory where he works, the family he loves, and the God who sustains him. But when news of job cuts comes against the backdrop of an unexpected snowstorm, his life becomes filled with far more doubts than certainties.

With humor and a gift for storytelling, Billy Coffey brings you along as he spends his snow day encountering family, friends, and strangers of his small Virginia town. All have had their own battles with life's storms. Some have found redemption. Others are still seeking it. But each one offers a piece to the puzzle of why we must sometimes suffer loss, and each one will help Peter find a greater truth—our lives are made beautiful not by our big moments, but our little ones. (2010)

To read an excerpt from Snow Day, go here.

My Review:
I admit it. I'm not a winter person, and though I enjoy fall, I don't enjoy the fact that it ushers in snow, icy roads, and darkness in late afternoon. Every time I picked up Snow Day, I felt the urge to shove it under my bed so I wouldn't have to think about snow!

But once I did get past my winter prejudices, I found a charming, hope-filled story and a narrator that drew me in. I enjoy Coffey's quiet wisdom and his voice. Through Peter's eyes and the everyday encounters he has with people he meets on his snow day, the reader learns valuable lessons about community and how good can come out of suffering and loss.

If you've never visited Coffey's blog before, take a moment to do so. You won't be disappointed!