Title: The Shepherds
Author: Shirley Bellinger
Publisher: West Bow Press
ISBN: 9781973645344
Pages: 306
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Christian
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
The Shepherds is a warm and affecting novel written by Shirley Bellinger. The story follows two fictional pastors of local churches, Adrian and Paul, and their families, serving in two small towns in Virginia. For Adrian, his frequent communion with God carries him through many difficult days but the same cannot be said of Paul, who despite leaning on to God’s faith time and again, a tragic event that rocked the residents of the two towns years ago, puts a dark cloud in his life as he partially blames himself for the misfortune.
Shirley Bellinger, through her two well-grounded protagonists, weaves a plot which gives readers a glimpse of the daily lives of pastors’ families, their challenges, memories, their relationship with their congregants as well as their triumphs as it fleshes out the power of friendship and the solace offered by belonging to a community. It is a gala of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of loss, grief, and adversity and leaning on the Word of God for strength and as a healing balm.
The Shepherds hits the trifecta; The lyricism in Bellinger’s prose flows as freely as a stream making the work all the more profound and heartwarming. She manages to create a trenchant that provides a deeper understanding of the lives of pastors, empathizing with them and cheering them on when situations call for it. She also does not present readers with superhuman protagonists, but rather characters who have their flaws, who grow as the plot progresses as they learn from their experiences. It is a story which avoids too much melodrama and farce but still manages to bring out an engaging embroidery that goes down smoothly to bring the novel alive.
Altogether, The Shepherds is an exuberant creation from an accomplished author. Fans of Christian fiction stories will find Author Bellinger’s work to be a feast for the heart and spirit.
