Can love survive a shattering loss? A grief-stricken widower learns to open his heart again in LaVyrle Spencer's touching and emotionally charged new novel. Late summer, Browerville, Minnesota, 1950: Life is just about perfect for Eddie Olczak. A devoted husband and father, a man of unshakable faith, he derives intense pleasure from the life he's built with his beloved wife, Krystyna, and their two daughters, and is the dedicated handyman for St. Joseph's, the Catholic church that is the cornerstone of Browerville life. But when a tragic accident cuts Krystyna's life short, Eddie is sure his heart is broken forever. Krystyna was everything to him—his true companion. As friends and relatives rally around the family in the dark days and weeks that follow, there is one person who is unable to express what the loss of Krystyna means to her. Sister Regina, the girls' teacher at St. Joseph's school, has always felt a special affinity for the family. Yet her religious vows prevent her from becoming too close to them, even in their time of need. In the past, Sister Regina had bristled under the constraints of the order, but always reaffirmed her commitment through prayer and contemplation. Now the strict rules of the Benedictine sisterhood, which once gave her life a sense of meaning, chafe at her more insistently. Time passes, and Sister Regina and Eddie Olczak continue to cross paths. Deep inside, they realize there is something between them—more than a kinship, a connection that somehow goes beyond their shared love of Krystyna and the girls. Thrilled—and secretly frightened—they both must summon the courage to look within their hearts and make their own choices. Powerful, moving, and deeply affecting, Then Came Heaven is a celebration of love and tenderness, a book LaVyrle Spencer's fans are sure to cherish long after the last page is turned.
Author
LaVyrle Spencer is an American best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. She has successfully published a number of books, with several of them made into movies. Twelve of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, and Spencer was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame in 1988. Spencer is known for creating realistic characters and stories that focus on families rather than only the relationship between a man and woman. These "ordinary" men and women are warm and vulnerable and are always portrayed sympathetically.[1] Her heroines tend to be a mix of fire and warmth, strength, savvy and soft–heartedness who must overcome some sort of adversity, such as pregnancy, divorce, a lengthy separation, the loss of a loved one, and then undergo a catharsis. The stories center on themes of abiding love, family ties and strength in difficult times. In the 1980s and 1990s Spencer wrote 12 New York Times Bestsellers. Her books have been sold to book clubs worldwide, and have been published around the world. Condensed versions of many of her novels have appeared in Reader's Digest and Good Housekeeping. She retired from writing in 1997.
