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Then Came Heaven
Then Came Heaven
Author: LaVyrle Spencer
Can love survive a shattering loss? A grief-stricken widower learns to open his heart again in LaVyrle Spencer's touching and emotionally charged new novel. Late summer, Browerville, Minnesota, 1950: Life is just about perfect for Eddie Olczak. A devoted husband and father, a man of unshakable faith, he derives intense pleasure from the life he'...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780399143694
ISBN-10: 0399143696
Publication Date: 12/8/1997
Pages: 332
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 103

3.8 stars, based on 103 ratings
Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (T)
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 30 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
In this modern day, we rush. We move at a break neck pace in everything we do, even our relationships. We rush in where angels fear to tread and then back out at leisure and on to the next.

Welcome to Browerville. A slower pace; a town you might pass on the highway and wonder for a moment about the lives lived there. Not a more "innocent" time, a cliche one reviewer falls back on, as most do when referring to the mid 1900's. This story is earthy and practical. The characters heart-breakingly human and real, deserving of the time and care given to them.

What doesn't happen here, and what I think is unimaginable for some of the reviewers is that these two people actually do what is best for them but they wait until the right time to do so. They don't ride roughshod over other people to get what they want. They don't think only of themselves. Their journey is one of shared agony and love, both unspoken. How they come to finally verbalize what they know the other is feeling and how it develops into romance is a subtle refrain in this story I feel many have missed.

I found their inner and and outer struggles daunting. How they deal with their growing feelings for each other, their families, their community and their beliefs is nothing short of an everyday miracle reminding us of the strength and the power of true love.

A story not to be missed and definitely worthy as Spencer's last effort.
Grnemae avatar reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 451 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This was the last book written by Ms Spencer. This is the story of Eddie Olczak, a rural MN farmer who finds himself a widower with two small daughters after a horrific accident claims the life of his beloved wife. Soon Eddie finds a new love, in a most unexpected place, which tests his religious faith.
This is compelling novel and one I found very hard to put down.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 52 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book was one of the best I've read by LaVyrle Spencer. From the very first page, the emotion is so raw and vivid, it's like I was there myself...I've read great books that made me cry at the end, but this might be the first book that made me cry during the first chapter! The journey from loss to healing is so real, and the moral situations are handled with such respect. I've always been impressed with LaVyrle Spencer's books, but she really outdid herself with this one!
Chycole avatar reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 479 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Sweet story about love after the untimely death of a spouse.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
VERY GOOD. REALLY ENJOYED THIS ONE.
Read All 51 Book Reviews of "Then Came Heaven"

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bookdeejay avatar reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 132 more book reviews
Enjoyed this so much
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 12 more book reviews
This book leaves you with a smile on your face!
Tesstarosa avatar reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 151 more book reviews
It's 1950 in Browerville, Minnesota, Eddie Olczak and his wife, Krystyna, have a wonderful life together with their two elementary school-age daughters. Then, their world is turned upside-down when Krystyna is killed in a car-train accident.

At the local Catholic school, Sister Regina is the Olczak girls teacher and she is the one who has to break the news to his two young daughters.

We follow Eddie and his family deal with their grief over the loss of their wife, mother, daughter and sister. At the same time, Sister Regina's grief over her death is making her question her vows as a Benedictine nun even more.

As Eddie and Sister Regina deal with their grief, they also find themselves inexplicably drawn to each other.

This is the last novel LaVyrle Spencer wrote before her retirement (per the notes in the book.) The story is lovely and really drew me into the lives of both Eddie and Sister Regina. I was initially drawn to reading the story because it takes place in Minnesota, but I have to list this among one of the best novels I've read this year
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 17 more book reviews
One of best books that I have read this year. LaVyrle Spenser did a wonderful job of making Eddie and his two daughters so real that you couldn't help think that they were real.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on
A wonderfully written book. From the dramatic beginning, to the end, this book held my attention. I highly recommend it. Lavyrle Spencer at her best.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 29 more book reviews
Wonderful story....made me wish that it was non-fiction. would be a good movie.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on
This is a nice story. Kind of sleepy. I read it before I went to bed at night.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 78 more book reviews
Another of Spencer's moving, heart touching stories. I enjoyed this book.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 134 more book reviews
Great story--second time I've read it and it's still good.
emmaliss avatar reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 55 more book reviews
Loved it!
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 51 more book reviews
Eddie, devoted husband & father, a man of unshakable faith, derives intense pleasure from the life he's built with his beloved wife, and their 2 daughters, and the Catholic church where he both works and worships. When a traggic accident cuts his wife's life short, Eddie is sure his heart is broken forever.
As friends and relatives rally around the family in the dark days and weeks that follow, one person cannot fully express her own grief. Sister Regina, the girls' teacher, has a special connection to the family, yet her vows prevent her to become too close to them. Now the strict rules os the sisterhood, which once gave meaning to her life, chafe at her more insistently.
As time passes, Sister Regina and Eddie come to realize that something has blossomed between them that transends their shared love of his wife and the gils. Thrilled-and secretly frightened-they both must summon the courage to look within their hearts and make their own choices.
reviewed Then Came Heaven on + 44 more book reviews
TLC unlikely romance


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