7/31: If I were to sum this book up in one word, my choice would be "insipid."

8/1: Finishing the book didn't change my mind. I know that some people really appreciate what can be defined as "inspirational" or Christian reading material. I, however, prefer to draw my inspiration from more secular, earthly sources. ( )

This is a beautifully written story about a little girl of deep faith, whose parents recently died. She writes a letter to God, and places it in a tree at the park. A grieving jogger, who lost her child to a horrible accident, finds the letter, and decides to answer it as God. This brings about a life-changing chain of events for both these characters and others who frequent the park.
This would be a great selection for a book club, because there are questions for discussion in the back, and enough moral issues to create some healthy debate. One of the best books I have read in recent years, which stayed with me after I finished it. ( )

This book starts out with a young orphan writing a letter to God in order to communicate with her dead parents. Clare finds the letter and even though she is dealing with the grief of the loss of a son herself decides to answer the letter. Through corresponding with the young girl she starts to discover the other vistors to Mulberry Park and befriends them. The other characters in the book also come to terms with their own life situations as well. ( )

Claire discovers a letter written by a little girl to God while jogging in the park. Intrigued, she reads it and discovers that the little girl has questions about the death of her parents. Wanting to console the little girl, Claire writes back to her and sticks her letter in the branches of the tree where she found it. Thus begins a story of several people suffering the losses of life who form a community centered around the park where Claire found the letter--and the faith and prayers of a little girl. It all works out a little too neatly in my opinion, and several well timed accidents add drama to the story, but it is a nice sweet read for those that like romances and gentle feel good stories. ( )

I’ve just finished reading Mulberry Park by Judy Duarte. It may be the first Christian novel in quite a while to move me almost to tears. It’s set in the area round a small park, where people who hardly talk to each other are bound to turn out to be neighbors. Over time, the good, the bad and the indifferent prove to be friends as well. The story centers on a young girl who’s lost her parents and a middle-aged woman who’s lost her child. Somewhere along the way the woman also lost her faith, but the child has kept hers and starts writing letters to God, which she persuades a fellow park-player to hide in a tree. Then God answers.

In a small neighborhood, coincidences are inevitable, and there’s never any feeling of the characters being manipulated in this book. Each event arises naturally out of its own situation, and the characters build on their own shaky foundations of mistakes and mistrust. But somehow there’s a feeling, as in any good story—and in the faith of a little girl who writes letters to God—that life’s not entirely random. Death’s not the end, and hope is never lost.

I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child, though Judy Duarte describes it with great poignancy and sympathy. I cannot imagine losing a beloved spouse, a child losing a parent, family losing home and livelihood. But life can be built on losses as well as on gains; hope is built on forgiveness, and forgiveness on faith.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t God who wrote an answer to Analisa’s letter. But it’s God who writes his name on our hearts and his healing on our lives. And Mulberry Park is a beautiful image of how that healing might look. ( )