Wingo Saga

Series · 2 books · 1945-1951

Books in series

The Gauntlet

1945

London Wingo, an ordained minister and a fourth-year student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is struggling to reconcile his desires for further education with his financial worries that accompany many young couples awaiting the birth of their first child. When he applies for a church in Linden, Missouri, and, accepted by the deacons there, he feels that he has found security for his family. He does not realize that in return for this security the people of Linden expect him to defer to their practices and ideas and will use church law as well as social pressure to ensure conformity. The struggles of London and his wife Kathie to keep both their church and their spiritual integrity, rise to a powerful climax when Kathie becomes seriously ill. London realizes he must choose between Linden and the people who contributed to their unhappiness and a rich metropolitan parish where he might escape to a contented and more profitable life. James Street went to a Baptist seminary and had his own church for a few years before devoting himself to writing full-time. It is from his experiences as a young pastor that he can speak so well about the challenges facing London and Kathie Wingo—discord, feuds, rigid mores, lack of privacy, balancing selfless service and a personal life, as well as the maturity and deepening that evolves as one hurls through life's obstacles.

The High Calling

1951

The Wingo Saga, vol. 2 Baptist preacher, London Wingo, first introduced in The Gauntlet, returns to Linden, Missouri after a twenty year absence to face what is to be the greatest crisis in his ministerial and parental career. London and his wife, Kathie, had built a church in Linden, Missouri where they faced the trials and triumphs of a first ministry. When Kathie died, however, London accepted a position in Kansas City, and departed abruptly with his his baby daughter. London left Linden as a young widower—stunned, helpless and alone—but returns as man in his prime—successful, passionate about his calling, and the loving father of a beloved, spirited daughter—ready to leave the big leagues for the minors and address the sorrows he left behind. London looks forward to the challenge of organizing a new church and to writing a biography of Roger Williams, a project he has been planning for years. But, most of all, he believes in the mystic properties of farms and small towns and hopes that his daughter, a free soul who doesn't quite fit anywhere, will discover a way to find herself. London succeeds at first in quieting the dissident elements in his ministry by placing the critics in important positions in the church hierarchy. But Paige becomes interested in Vance Andrews who is engaged to the daughter of one of London's most powerful enemies and London fears trouble is ahead. As London faces this crisis, his faith is bulwarked by a woman who encourages and helps him with his parish problems—Forrest Roberts, a woman of understanding and keen awareness; a woman who sparks the promise of new love.

Author

James Street

Author · 9 books

From Wikipedia: James Howell Street (October 15, 1903 – September 28, 1954) was a U.S. journalist, minister, and writer of Southern historical novels. Street was born in Lumberton, Mississippi, in 1903. As a teenager, he began working as a journalist for newspapers in Laurel and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At the age of 20, Street, born a Roman Catholic, decided to become a Baptist minister, attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Howard College. Unsatisfied with his pastoral work after ministering stints in Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama, Street returned to journalism in 1926. After briefly holding a position with the Pensacola, Florida Journal, Street joined the staff of the Associated Press. The AP position took him to New York, where he began freelance writing fiction. Hired away from the AP by the New York World-Telegram in 1937, Street sold a short story ("A Letter to the Editor") to Cosmopolitan magazine, which caught the eye of film producer David Selznick, who turned it into a hit film, Nothing Sacred. The Broadway musical, Hazel Flagg, was based on his short story, as well as the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis-film Living It Up. His success allowed him to write full-time, and throughout the 1940s he worked on a five-novel series of historical fiction about the progress of the Dabney family through the 19th century. The Dabney pentology—Oh, Promised Land, Tap Roots, By Valor and Arms, Tomorrow We Reap, and Mingo Dabney—explored classic Southern issues of race and honor, and strongly characterized Street's struggle to reconcile his Southern heritage with his feelings about racial injustice. The series was a critical and popular success, with several of the books being made into feature films. Street modeled characters in his Dabney family saga on Sam Dale, Newt Knight and Greenwood LeFlore. Street also published two popular novels about boys and dogs, The Biscuit Eater and Good-bye, My Lady, both were turned into movies, and a set of semi-autobiographical novels about a Baptist minister, The Gauntlet and The High Calling, both were bought by Hollywood but never produced. Street's short stories and articles appeared regularly in Cosmopolitan, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's and Holiday. Street died of a heart attack, in Chapel Hill, N.C., on September 28, 1954, at the age of 50.