“The River Caught Sunlight” by Katie Andraski

It’s a story not unlike the parable of the prodigal son, except without the prodigal’s riotous and self-indulgent living. 

Janice Westfahl grows up on a farm in upstate New York with her older brother and their parents. She has a longstanding boyfriend, but it appears the relationship will never lead to marriage. Unlike her brother, Janice goes to college near Chicago, and she’s become a publicist for a Christian publisher, specializing in pitching Christian authors and books to secular, mainstream media. As young as she is, she’s become successful in her work.

 

She’s currently promoting and accompanying a highly controversial author on a publicity tour. The man has a broad following, and his book seems to advocate violence to stop abortion. He even has wealthy people ready to help fund activities. But he steps away from direct verbal advocacy in his interviews. Janice is conflicted; she opposes abortion but she also opposes violence, and she’s concerned that she’s becoming something of an accomplice.

 

The tour ends in New York City, just as Janice’s mother dies from cancer. And that sets into motion a family dynamic that will surface the underlying conflict between Janice, her father who always supported her ambitions, and her brother, who resents that Janice has left him with caring for their parents.

 

Katie Andraski

The River Caught Sunlight (2014) by Katie Andraski tells Janice’s story. It’s a serious literary novel with Christian themes that doesn’t fit into what we call the “Christian fiction” genre. While she deals with problematic relationships with her mother, father, and brother, not to mention clients and media writers, Janice is a heroine with flaws of her own. At one point, you almost want to shake her for how she treats her brother.

 

But the novel is a moving story, about family, relationships, grief and loss, and how grief can bring out the best and worst in us. It’s about the choices we make, and the course corrections sometimes offered to us. And it’s about faith – in God, in ourselves, and in each other.

 

Andraski drew upon elements of her own life to write The River Caught Sunlight. She attended Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, much like her heroine Janice Westfahl. For many years, she worked as a publicist for a Christian publishing house, where she routinely pitched mainstream media about Christian authors and books, including accompanying Francis and Edith Schaeffer on a publicity tour. She eventually settled in Illinois, where she teaches composition at Northern Illinois University and lives on a farm with her husband, their dogs, horses, and chickens.

 

The River Caught Sunlight, as I mentioned, is not a “Christian novel” in the conventional sense. A scene or two would disqualify it. And yet it is very much a Christian-themed novel about families, love, forgiveness, and redemption. Life doesn’t always, or even usually, give us beautifully wrapped gifts with big bows. The life, and lives, depicted in this beautiful novel are real and recognizable. 

 

Some Monday Readings

 

“Delight in Disorder,” poem by Robert Herrick – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

A New Hope for Saving the Universities – Yuval Levin at Commentary. 

 

A Walk Along the White Cliffs – Spitalfields Life.

 

Writers Are Readers – Terry Whalin at The Writing Life.