Believe Me
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- €1.99
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- €1.99
Publisher Description
Thirteen-year old Nic Delano has a lot of questions. Like why does he have a babysitter at his age. And where did she get such long legs? Why do people die of stupid things all the time?
His mother, an American astrophysicist and atheist, has always encouraged Nic to ask questions. But lately she doesn't like the answers her son is getting. Nic has been sneaking off to Bible class and is starting to embrace a very different view of the heavens. He even volunteers their home to shelter the local reverend, a Nigerian named Dele Ombatu, who considers Jesus his best friend and Nic's mother, his greatest challenge.
When an unexpected tragedy strikes, however, Nic and his mother's beliefs are put to the test. Will God act to help them? Or will life have to be confronted alone?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The overpublished religion vs. atheism debate takes a refreshing turn here. In an understated way, Killham (How to Cook a Tart) takes a modest run at the great questions: does God exist? if so, where is he when people get ill or get mugged? These are the matters chewed on by 13-year-old narrator Nic (as in Nicolaus Copernicus) Delano, whose astrophysicist mother, Lucy, is an atheist who believes in nature. Nic's teen hormones make his curiosity more than intellectual, and he's as interested in girls as he is in the Bible, a suitably rebellious topic for an atheist's kid. Nic is attracted to things about the Bible-believing Christian lifestyle: for one thing, his friend's mom bakes cookies. But many things forge the ties that bind. Minor characters could be more memorably drawn, and the interfaith range of beliefs (the Muslim babysitter, the Jewish relatives) is more convenient than convincing. But for those who prefer stories of love, faith and pain to a theological argument about them, this is a sweet, engaging read.
