Yet, true to her advanced sin metrics, Holly proves remarkably incorruptible, despite Gadriel’s initial efforts to inveigle Holly to live a little, and treat herself to some of the better things life has to offer. So Gadriel is forced to up his/her game, and use small miracles to achieve his/her ends. It seems we see signs, wonders, and miracles all over our Bibles. But for many of us, we see an absence of signs, wonders, and miracles in our lives and in the world around us. So where did the wonders go? It’s a question from a college student who writes in to us. Small Miracles is exactly what the title suggests: this book is filled with a series of small miracles. Where it seems impossible to find a solution to a problem, something happens, usually in an unexpected way, and the problem is solved. I was excited to read uplifting stories about those random coincidences of circumstance that can only be chalked up to the Divine. Unfortunately, while those stories seem to be here, the storytelling is terrible and the added commentary by the authors is pointless and condescending. It is as if they don't trust their readers to draw their own conclusions about how amazing or remarkable a story is. Or, more likely, it's an opportunity to wax philosophical and come off as deep, when they really come off as non-committal as to whether they believe the driving factor behind these stories is God or The Universe in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Given that most of their stories are from those of Jewish descent if not religion, they should commit to God and stop being so wishy-washy. I guess this is a pet-peeve that may be unique to me, but how are you going to call something a miracle from God, but then thank the Universe, something that God would have created? It would be like thanking the cake for baking itself. Overall, I’m surprised and pleased that such an upbeat book won SPFBO. It’s nice to have a variety in your reading and this has set me up nicely for a return to the more apocalyptic themes I often read!

Being set in modern-day London, there isn’t much worldbuilding per se, and a lot of that happens in footnotes. Some might find that insufficient or annoying, personally, I enjoyed the added tidbits and religious references. It is slow-paced and meanders through the multiple subplots and characters. You really need to keep your patience with it until you see how things come together. That is, until ninety-year-old Cecilia decides to play the newly launched National Lottery and a series of small miracles begins to unfold... Small Miracles’ is a lovely, funny novel with a wise and compassionate heart. Anne Booth draws on her own Irish Catholic upbringing to create a parish and convent full of ordinary, fallible humans, that most churchgoers will recognise. Like the TV show ‘Rev’ the book moves effortlessly between humour and sadness. I laughed out loud at some of Sr Margaret’s conversations with God, appreciated her frustrations with church hierarchy and was moved to tears at the moments when she and other characters expressed their deepest pain. The author is a great observer and excellent at showing how it is often in the little things in life that we can learn and appreciate bigger lessons. And that when a community is under pressure, all it takes is a bit of love, hope and faith for the miraculous to happen.

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An uncomplicated plot but with complicated, conflicted characters that were so relatable. Over the years I've either been or met people like the humans in this story. The angels too also reminded me of some non gender specific friends and when I read excerpts of this book to them they too were impressed with the way Atwater smoothly writes of gender fluidity. No showing, no info dumps or "telling" it just was. I quote one paragraph that I particularly liked… Charming, witty and warm, Small Miracles is a gentle gem of a novel, a cheery balm in troubling times.' Small Miracles belongs in that category of books alongside What You Can See from Here, which are easy to read, but difficult to escape. Thoughts of the people and their situations, how they handle them, stay with you. You might love to live in this community, but you'd be afraid to be stifled by it. Yet there is room for everyone.

My first observation is that we shouldn’t think of the Bible times, either Old or New Testament, as times in which saints of God consistently did miracles. That would be a distortion of the biblical record. They were few and far between in the Old Testament. They were uniquely concentrated in Jesus and his apostles in a very special, Christ-exalting way. They are shared in part through spiritual gifts with all the saints. Countless Miracles So who could help thinking - hmmm... what if the sudden sweet serendipity that Halberstam shows us in these remarkable short vignettes is a small part of an even larger, greater amazing grace? My answer to this is fairly simple. It’s this: there were fewer miracles in the Bible than you probably think, and there are more miracles today than you probably know, and there is a good biblical reason for why there would be a certain kind of prevalence of miracles in the Bible that is different from today.

Small Miracles is a nice book. It is a soothing balm for these troubled times, a patch of cheer away from real life. Set in the fictional university town of Fairbridge, Saint Philomena's convent used to run a secondary school but the school has been taken over and only three nuns remain. Sister Margaret, the new Superior, is a lovely caring nun but is denial about the depth of her grief for previous Superior Sister Helen, and has no clear ideas about how to manage the convent and the appalling state of its finances. Her fellow nuns, Sister Bridget a madcap enthusiastic cooking whirlwind, and Sister Cecilia, a gloomy historian who spends a lot of time researching the life of the convent's founder in the hope of making him a Saint, are dedicated to the convent but do little except drive Sister Margaret nuts.