- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; New edition edition (21 Feb 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006511473
- ISBN-13: 978-0006511472
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,095,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The new romantic saga by the bestselling author of HOME SONG and SMALL TOWN GIRL.
Browerville is a small town in Minnesota, with a close, mostly Polish, community steeped in Catholicism. Everyone knows everyone else and looks out for each other’s children. And there Eddie and Krystyna Olczak have been bringing up their two little girls, Anne and Lucy, and living quiet but fulfilled, loving lives – Eddie is janitor at St Joseph’s church and school, Krystyna looks after their children and does voluntary work. Then tragedy strikes – Krystyna is killed by a train as she ill-judgedly drives across the track.
Everybody rallies round to help the bereaved family, including Irene, Krystyna’s plain and lonely sister – herself long in love with Eddie – and Sister Regina, one of Anne and Lucy’s teachers at the school. Regina had had a vocation to be a nun since she was a very young girl but now, in her early thirties, she is muddled and beginning to question whether she has done the right thing in renouncing the chance to have a husband and family in favour of a way of life she is coming to find increasingly unfulfilling.
Eddie is touched by the tact and concern of the nun towards his two bereft children, but, as committed Catholics, a chasm lies between them. It is a chasm both become overwhelmingly tempted to cross.
From the Back Cover
A grief-stricken widower learns to open his heart again . . .
Browerville, Minnesota, 1950, and life is just about perfect for Eddie Olczak. A devoted husband and father, he derives intense pleasure from the life he's built with his beloved wife Krystyna and their two daughters, and from his work as the handyman for St Joseph's, the Catholic church that is the cornerstone of the community. But when Krystyna is taken from him in a tragic accident, Eddie is sure that his life, too, is over.
Among the friends who rally round in the dark days and weeks that follow is Sister Regina, the girls' teacher at St Joseph's school. She has always felt a special affection for the family, although her strict religious vows prevent her from becoming to close to them. But as time passes, Regina and Eddie realise there is a connection between them that somehow goes beyond their shared love of Krystyna and the children. Thrilled – and secretly frightened – they must summon the courage to look within their hearts and make their own choices.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Before I read this story I read the foreword from the author about the setting of the story - a town just like the one she grew up in. This was her last book as she retired from writing after it and it shows an author at the top of her game - I wish she had continued.
This book is full of evocative details of a life entirely unlike that of mine, growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in England. The life described in the American town of Browerville, where the Catholic Church is the centre of village life, seems very alien to me. It was also an interesting read knowing the recent history of the Catholic church and its problems with abusing priests. Yet in this story the church is, by and large, a force for good and the glue that holds the town together.
The book starts with a shattering event - the death of mother-of-two Krystyna. Her widower, Eddie Olczak, has to continue his job as a handyman for St Joseph's Catholic Church whilst caring for his bereaved daughters. The initial chapters are difficult reading as the author skilfully portrays the devastation of this untimely death.
The story focuses then on one of the nuns, a teacher at the school to which Eddie's daughters go. Sister Regina has been in the convent for all her adult life but is beginning to find she doesn't quite feel she fits any longer. With all the emotion over Krystyna's death, and the difficulty of being reconciled to this event, Regina struggles further. As a nun she has to obey Holy Rule and yet, for her, it doesn't always seem right.
Regina and Eddie discover a connection between them that is more than a shared love for Eddie's children. But what can a nun do about an attraction to a man? It is this part of the book which is so wonderfully written, as we follow Regina's thoughts and decisions about her future and whether it involves life with Eddie; indeed, whether this is possible.
This is a real feel-good book with characters about whom we care and who we know are good and kind. I found the whole children's schooling in catechisms and other stuff rather mind-boggling from an English Protestant point of view, but it opened a window into a different world, that when everyone knows everyone else and the community that creates, and I know this is a book which I will read many more times.
This book is full of evocative details of a life entirely unlike that of mine, growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in England. The life described in the American town of Browerville, where the Catholic Church is the centre of village life, seems very alien to me. It was also an interesting read knowing the recent history of the Catholic church and its problems with abusing priests. Yet in this story the church is, by and large, a force for good and the glue that holds the town together.
The book starts with a shattering event - the death of mother-of-two Krystyna. Her widower, Eddie Olczak, has to continue his job as a handyman for St Joseph's Catholic Church whilst caring for his bereaved daughters. The initial chapters are difficult reading as the author skilfully portrays the devastation of this untimely death.
The story focuses then on one of the nuns, a teacher at the school to which Eddie's daughters go. Sister Regina has been in the convent for all her adult life but is beginning to find she doesn't quite feel she fits any longer. With all the emotion over Krystyna's death, and the difficulty of being reconciled to this event, Regina struggles further. As a nun she has to obey Holy Rule and yet, for her, it doesn't always seem right.
Regina and Eddie discover a connection between them that is more than a shared love for Eddie's children. But what can a nun do about an attraction to a man? It is this part of the book which is so wonderfully written, as we follow Regina's thoughts and decisions about her future and whether it involves life with Eddie; indeed, whether this is possible.
This is a real feel-good book with characters about whom we care and who we know are good and kind. I found the whole children's schooling in catechisms and other stuff rather mind-boggling from an English Protestant point of view, but it opened a window into a different world, that when everyone knows everyone else and the community that creates, and I know this is a book which I will read many more times.
2 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a tragic story of one family where a young wife/mom is trgically killed. I cannot say my feelings about this book i would definately recommend this book,however it may not be the type of book if you like biographies/crime books
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
86 reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Stunningly beautiful!!!
19 Dec 1997
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever had the privilege to read. When at first I heard the news LaVyrle Spencer was retiring, I wasn't really disappointed because several of her later books had fallen flat for me. Now, I'm suddenly struck by the sadness of never, ever being able to read a new book of hers again. The setting is 1950 in a small Polish community in Browerville, MN - Spencer's hometown. Perhaps it's her familiarity with the setting that makes this book come alive. The book opens as the community is stunned by the death of a young wife and mother, Krystyna. No one is more grief-stricken than her husband, Eddie, who is the janitor and bellringer for the local Catholic church and school. Their two daughters, Anne and Lucy are 4th and 3rd graders taught by Sister Regina. Sister Regina has been questioning her vows and now that she is prevented from physically comforting the girls, she questions them even more. As the book progresses, Sr. Regina and Eddie begin to have feelings for each other but are frustrated by not being able to act on these feelings. I'm hesitant to reveal more for fear of spoiling this very wonderful, touching book. Please do yourself a favor this Holiday season and treat yourself to this book!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Delightfully different romance
16 Mar 2002
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Then Came Heaven" is a totally unique romance novel. Set in a midwest Polish Catholic community in the 1950s, it is a beautifully crafted glimpse of a time when the world was simpler and more innocent. The primary characters are a grieving widower and a nun who is struggling with her vocation. Spencer always does a wonderful job of drawing the reader into the emotional lives of her characters, and these two are particularly sympathetic. The majority of the book focuses on their individual struggles before turning to the romance that springs from their mutual respect and support. The love story is very sweet and handled with great sensitivity. I also enjoyed the glimpse into the inner life of the nuns.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Sweet and Simple
23 Dec 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Then Came Heaven is my first Lavryle Spencer novel. And, unfortunately, I can only report mixed reactions. I have nothing but praise for the author's tender and heartwarming portrayal of 1950's small town Mid-western life, and clearly well researched and very compelling portrayal of life amongst an order St. Benedectine nuns. Spencer does a wonderful job of developing a cast of strong, credible and diverse characters.
My only complaint is that the plot's romantic development was simply not executed as skillfully as the other aspects of the story. I had a hard time believing that just weeks after the heart-wrenching loss of his wife (my copy of the novel now suffers a little "water" damage in the early chapters)Eddie was already succumbing to his sister-in-law's seduction attempts. And it made me uneasy that Regina seemed so intent on emulating so many little aspects of Eddie's late wife. Too often the budding love affair between Eddie and Regina seemed like more of a continuation of his life with his wife than the beginning of a "new" life with a "new" woman.
Overall, this is a good read. And I'll hope my next Lavryle Spencer might be just a little better developed.
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