FICTION

Spider in a Tree

by Susan Stinson
Small Beer. Oct. 2013. 300p. ISBN 9781618730695. pap. $16; ebk. ISBN 9781618730701. F
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Famous theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) comes to life in this mid-18th-century story of the First Great Awakening, a revivalist movement that swept Protestant Europe and the American Colonies. Spanning two decades, Stinson's fourth novel (after Venus of Chalk) is set in Northampton, MA, where Edwards, a slave owner and minister, brings his congregation to new religious heights. As God-fearing fervor sweeps across New England, Edwards is among its leading ministers. Members of the Northampton congregation rise and fall with the awakening as religious convictions are challenged and questions surrounding sin and slavery are theologically debated.
VERDICT Weaving together archival letters, historical detail, and fictional twists, Stinson vividly resurrects this emotional historical period prior to the American Revolution. The quoted passages require some deep reading to understand Edwards's theological positions, but readers interested in the spiritual life of the early American settlers will enjoy this in-depth and humanizing connection to the past.
Reviewed by Andrea Brooks, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights , Oct 15, 2013
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