The Dead Don't Dance
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
The debut novel from New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin is a bittersweet yet triumphant love story--a tale of one man's journey through the darkness of despair and into the light of hope. Perfect for readers looking for the emotional resonance of Nicholas Sparks or Lisa Wingate.
In a sleepy rural town in South Carolina, Dylan and Maggie Styles are a young couple in love, preparing eagerly for the birth of their first son. But events take a tragic turn in the delivery room, and their child is delivered stillborn. When Maggie hemorrhages and slips into a coma, Dylan slips into what can only be described as a walking coma, holding vigil at his beloved wife's bedside.
Usually tough and self-reliant, an outdoorsman and a farmer, Dylan finds that everything he has known is suddenly thrown into doubt. Refusing to give up on Maggie's recovery, a devastated Dylan takes a job as an English professor in order to pay for Maggie's medical bills. Dylan connects with his students despite himself and offers hope to others amid his own disappointment and grief. As Dylan waits for some change in Maggie's condition, he reflects on his life and hers.
Through friends and grace-filled moments of insight, Dylan slowly begins to heal, but it will take a second tragedy--and an anxious period of wrestling with God--to truly awaken him from his stupor and open him up to a new life.
Deeply emotional and filled with themes of enduring love, loss, struggles with faith, and redemption, The Dead Don't Dance is not to be missed.
"This is the story of a real person's real struggle with the uncertainties of faith, unadorned with miracles of the deus ex machina sort but full of the sort of miracles that attend everyday life if you bother to notice. Charles Martin notices, and for that I commend him. He's unafraid of tackling the crucial questions--life, death, love, sacrifice." --Duncan Murrell
"[The Dead Don't Dance is] an absorbing read for fans of faith-based fiction . . . [with] delightfully quirky characters . . . [who] are ingeniously imaginative creations." --Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Competent writing and a poignant plot combine to make Martin's first novel with newcomer fiction imprint WestBow an absorbing read for fans of faith-based fiction. In rural South Carolina, Maggie and Dylan expectantly await the birth of their first child. Tragedy strikes when their son is stillborn and Maggie slips into a long-term coma. Refusing to give up on her recovery, a devastated Dylan marks time earning money as an adjunct English professor at Digger Junior College. In a role vaguely reminiscent of the teachers in Mr. Holland's Opus or To Sir with Love, Dylan connects with his students in spite of himself and is able to offer hope to others amid his own disappointment and grief. As Dylan waits for some change in Maggie's condition, he reflects on his life and hers in numerous seamless flashbacks. Martin integrates faith elements into the story with a deft touch. But what makes this book sing is not the plot, which sometimes feels disaster-heavy (rape, abortion, coma, car accident), but the delightfully quirky characters. From Amos, the black, bald deputy who is Dylan's best friend, to Bryce Kai MacGregor, a Vietnam veteran who lives north of town in a drive-in movie theater, drinks Old Milwaukee beer and plays the bagpipes mostly in the buff, they are ingeniously imaginative creations. Forecast:This promising novel marks the debut of Thomas Nelson's new fiction imprint, WestBow Press, which will also feature titles by Ted Dekker, Angela Hunt, Frank Peretti and Robert Whitlow.
