Mississippi Library Association

Home to Holly Springs

Karon, Jan. Home to Holly Springs.
New York: Viking Penguin, 2007.
355 pp. $26.95 (hardcover)

Home to Holly Springs returns Father Tim Kavanagh to his childhood home of Holly Springs, Mississippi. After more than thirty-eight years of absence, he seeks answers to unsolved mysteries, as well as the disappearances of those who most affected his childhood development.
Inspirational fiction readers will recognize Father Tim Kavanagh who is the main character in Jan Karon’s Mitford Series. In the Mitford series he has solved many domestic mysteries in his parish of Mitford, but in Home to Holly Springs Father Tim faces his own mysterious past in a personal and painful journey as he untangles the memories he has held so closely. In this first of the Father Tim novels Karon takes him home.
While Karon introduces a real-life Southern town in present day Holly Springs, Mississippi, her treatment of a small Mississippi town of forty years prior portrays honesty with kindness. Her character development introduces three dimensional, enjoyable, realistic souls as
her storyline leads a heart-rending search for truths.
This book is highly recommended for all libraries, but especially for those with a patronage who enjoy good inspirational fiction.

Donna P. Fite
Purvis Branch Manager
Lamar County Library System

Entry Filed under: Book Reviews
Posted on: January 5th, 2009