Author Callie Rebekah Feyen’s unique collection of short stories eloquently draws readers into her childhood struggles to read and learn in school, the role her mother played in encouraging her love for stories and desire to write them down, her coming of age in the shelter of her Presbyterian church community, and the friendships and marriage that shaped her life.
Feyen writes, “My mom gave me my first lessons in rewriting the narrative. She taught me about the disruptive grace that happens when we pass along stories, not knowing what will happen to us or to the ones we offer our stories to. We have no control over what a story will do.”
Feyen’s mother also helped her to understand how stories “are thick, heavy doors waiting to be opened, inviting us to step inside and look around—no matter the dark and scary things we have to face—to see what shimmers. They are hoping we will stay, but if we don’t, they will stay with us as a pinch in our side, a piece of dust in our eye, an ache in our heel. Waiting until we are disturbed enough to return.”
Feyen’s stories open windows into her struggles with faith, laugh-out-loud remembrances of her teen years, the tear-inducing sorrow of her friend dying, her stress and delight in parenting young children, her arduous journey of becoming a writer, and the power of stories to help her students navigate difficult circumstances.
This reader found particularly moving her stories titled “Strange Grace,” “Stories Helped My Unbelief,” “For I Know [My] Plans,” and “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.”
(Resource Publications)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.