Reviews for Matters of Faith

"Kristy Kiernan's "Matters of Faith" was so good and true and real that I forgot I was reading a book. I felt as though I was standing helplessly beside good people whose ordinary family life is slowly, inexorably tumbling into the darkness of the unknown."

Jacquelyn Mitchard,
New York Times bestselling author of
The Deep End of the Ocean
and All We Know of Heaven

"In this tense, well-paced novel about belief, Kiernan explores what happens when faith and love test the limits of family fealty. In southwest Florida, college student Marshall Tobias is in search of something to believe in. He thinks he’s found God and the woman he’s always dreamed of when he falls in love with fundamentalist believer Ada Sparks. But Ada’s against medical intervention for illness, and tragedy results when she sets out to “help” Marshall’s 12-year-old sister, Meghan, overcome her life-threatening allergies. Switching points-of-view between Marshall and his mother, Chloe, Kiernan (Catching Genius) movingly portrays a 20-year-old marriage gone flat and torn apart by crisis, a troubled son, a daughter hovering between life and death, and the hard-to-discern boundaries between true faith and unhealthy fanaticism. She handles her difficult material respectfully. Most interesting is her portrayal of the well-meaning traps parents fall into when encouraging open-ended exploration of faith without context, or choosing to remain silent. The thoughtful themes, interesting characters and page-turning drama of this novel will likely make it a book club favorite."

—Publishers Weekly

"When Marshall Tobias saw his best friend killed by a train at the age of twelve, he began his search for true faith. No matter how many avenues he tried and discarded he could not find what his true path was. With his younger sister suffering from severe food allergies his parents had little time for faith of their own, nor for helping him find his way. On a trip home from college, Marshall brings his first real girlfriend, Ada home. While his sister Meghan is happy to see her brother with a girlfriend, the whole family is not prepared for Ada’s faith system including her belief in no medical intervention. This novel explores the real times and feelings of a family in constant crisis over a period of years. The parents understand that their son lives with the constant conflict of faith and are unable to help him since they have their hands full with his sister and her life threatening medical problems. Kiernan has a real knack for digging in to the real heart and emotion of a family in crisis and the angst of no solution in their future. This family goes through every crisis and emotion possible and yet Kiernan gave them dignity and the character to weather the storms in such a manner that you hated to leave them at the end of the book."

—Inez Daylong, Affaire De Couer, 5 stars

 

Reviews For Catching Genius

"Kiernan is a compellingly talented writer and one to watch... hauntingly beautiful..."

—Florida Today, April 2007

"...so beautifully crafted and eloquently written that I did not want to put it down, even to sleep. ...intricately woven and sensually choreographed work..."

—"N" Magazine, April 2007

"A warm, moving novel about the power of familial bonds."

—Booklist, March 2007
Read full review

"Florida author Kristy Kiernan's stunning debut explores the lives of two sisters who were very close as children but drifted apart as they moved into adulthood...
Connie and Estella's poignant journey back toward the friendship of their youth will resonate with readers. Catching Genius is simply mesmerizing, not only because it expertly captures the unbreakable bond between sisters. The novel also explores the many facets of very real characters, breathing life into the seamlessly plotted storyline. This author's first novel is a must-read for women's fiction fans of all ages."

—BookPage, March 2007
(Read full review)

"Kiernan tests the bonds of sisterhood and goes to the well of family secrets and stunted connections...a moving novel about forgiveness and the fragility of family."

—Publishers Weekly, February 2007

"…Catching Genius rise[s] above the pack in the crowded women’s fiction market. Clearly meticulous research was required, but the novel never suffers from an excess of academic explanation or mathematics jargon. Kiernan’s successful melding of math and lyrical prose lends the novel invisible depths that provide an intellectual as well as emotional charge to the novel.

…an Ingram Reading Group Selection for February, Catching Genius is a novel that will appeal to music and math enthusiasts, women’s fiction readers, and anyone who wants to escape for a few hours, pull up a beach chair, smell the sea and enjoy a good story.

—Mostly Fiction