A Case for Christian Fiction

Terri Blackstock’s Emerald Windows and Patricia Cornwall’s At Risk

Though I have been a Christian for many years, I only began reading explicitly Christian fiction rather recently. The idea of genre fiction in general and novels promoting Christianity in specific, turned me off. I gravitated toward stories which approached the truth in a more organic, less prescribed manner. But so much has changed.

For one, the last few literary novels I read left me baffled. With one exception, I had difficulty perceiving any meaning at all after devoting hours to the stories. That was not always the case. Novelists of previous eras infused their stories with meaning. Readers might not always agree with their ideas but they were clearly present on the page. It is symptomatic of the age we live in to avoid any reference to moral absolutes or truthes of any kind. Unfortunately, this leads to insipid fiction.

In addition, I have discovered numerous very talented Christian novelists, Terri Blackstock among them. Having earned stardom as an author of mainstream romance, she began incorporating faith into her work after her conversion and quickly rose to the top of those charts as well. This essay is a brief comparison of two short romantic suspense novels written by women at the top of their respective games, Terri Blackstock and Patricia Cornwall.

Both Emerald Windows and At Risk feature talented protagonists with love interests that defy propriety, one couple are a teacher and his student, the other, a boss and her employee. This creates tension from the start, although the relationship in the Christian novel is more central to the theme. Cornwall is more concerned with a slow reveal of a cold-case crime. In each book the protagonists face high stakes, but Blackstock’s characters are more personal than professional. Cornwall’s are the reverse.

In both novels the bad guys are very bad, which is good, no ambiguity on that score. And they all get caught and punished. But their crimes are very different: In Emerald Eyes, the antagonist is a gossip and in At Risk, they are murderers. Most readers identify more readily with the former sin, which makes the story more relatable. Not everyone cares about that, however. But it could be argued that the gossip directly affected more lives than the killers.

What readers do care about is a satisfying conclusion. Blackstock ties up every loose end, whereas Cornwall leaves one important one flapping in the breeze. Both authors have made their careers writing series, so ending with a question is part of the process, but which question? At the end we have no idea how things stand between Monique and Winston. We are aware of a deeper level of corruption in Boston’s legal system, and we find out who killed the poor little old lady, but that’s about it.

Blackstock’s story ends, like most Christian fiction, on a note of redemption: The wronged couple suffer a lot, but are vindicated at the end, and their relationship and futures are restored.

In conclusion, my case for Christian fiction goes back to the reason human beings have sought out stories since the beginning of time: we seek answers to our questions, solutions to our problems, and most of all meaning to our experiences. Following characters with troubled lives as they work things out helps us unravel our own conflicts. Even tragedies help to ease our subconscious minds. Christian fiction, at least the best examples of the genre, offers a rare and precious commodity—hope. Its mainstream counterparts feature plenty of suspense and commentary on the craziness of modern life, but little in the way of deeper truths.

I hope these thoughts inspire you to pick up a book!

And remember, your comments are always welcome!

Pat Sweet/ pmooneysweet@gmail.com