Gail Sattler's The Narrow Path Review

Gail Sattler's The Narrow Path released this month, and I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of it.

Here's a blurb from Gail's website about the book:

CAN TWO PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT WORLDS FIND LOVE SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE?

Miranda feels like she’s been transported back to Little House On The Prairie, and Ted’s head spins when Miranda reads her Bible on her cell phone. Yet Miranda Klassen and Ted Wiebe must find a way to make peace to meet their common goal to open the doors of Ted’s Old Order Mennonite church and community. Will they also find love in the process?

I read this book almost in one sitting. It was light-hearted yet deep, funny and serious in just the right places. And I have to say....she has one of the absolute best "I love you" scenes I've ever read. I sighed SO long afterward.

The aspect of this book I liked the most from a therapeutic perspective is how Gail tackles the very important issue of opposites attracting. Just how important is it for two people to be on the same "page" when they are dating or considering marriage?

As a therapist, I've had to tackle this issue from both sides of marriage: couples who married and realized after the fact how different they are and couples who wondered if marriage was right for them considering their extremely different backgrounds/values/insert-various-dilemmas-to-overcome-here.

Gail does such a good job of showing the characters struggle with this very issue. The reader travels along with them as they encounter their differences with initial shock and dislike, gradual compromise, and eventual embrace of their dissimilarities.

In my opinion, the ending--while very satisfying--wraps up the geographical point of difference between the couple rather abruptly. However, Ted and Miranda do come to a point in both their lives that is healthy and mature as they overcome their differences.

Bottom line, this was a great read, and one I'd recommend for ministers or therapists to keep on hand when faced with couples who might be in a similar situation. Differences can be like the frosting of a cinnamon bun rather than the mold! (Read the book to get this!)

You can read the first 3 chapters of Gail's book here.

Order The Narrow Path from Christianbook.com or Amazon.com or Cokesbury.com or Barnesandnoble.com.