9 MIRACLES

A mother recounts a series of fortunate events in this slim nonfiction debut.

Heartbroken over her son’s impending deployment to Iraq, Watson makes a solo trip from Texas to Florida to see him off. Initially certain that she won’t have the strength to say goodbye, she encounters numerous benevolent strangers, all offering her prayers and assistance. From a woman who comforts her as she cries through the flight home, to a man in uniform who prays for her son and then vanishes without a trace, the people Watson meets buoy her through the trip; she arrives home with her faith reaffirmed. “God’s grace,” she concludes, “was providing for me every step of the way and seeing me through the most difficult day of my life.” Readers of sound Christian faith will likely agree with Watson, and this earnest, well-written book succeeds as an inspirational text for those who are already believers. For skeptics, though, the author’s insistence that her resilience “had nothing to do with Leigh Watson or her own strength” can become irksome; it’s easy to view Watson’s experiences not as divine interventions but rather as examples of good people simply being nice. Regardless of whether the reader believes in genuine God-sent miracles, all but the most cynical will agree that this book is an uplifting showcase of true human kindness. The strangers who aid and console Watson behave with an uncomplicated decency that seems to be increasingly rare in everyday life. Watson’s book could be a quick spiritual pick-me-up for anyone looking for examples of love and kindness, divine or otherwise.

Unlikely to convert nonbelievers but thoroughly heartwarming nonetheless.