There is a Wideness

By Mark McAllister

2005 Christy Award nominee History and fiction merge seamlessly in the 1937 oil-town setting of New London, Texas. When a gas-leak explosion kills more than 300 school children, teachers, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589190106
• ISBN13: 9781589190108
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: David C. Cook
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.4" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

I Loved it!

This book is a fairly quick read but it catches you so quickly perhaps it only seems so. It was hard to put down. I just wanted to read on until the end without stopping. Based on a true story of a tragedy in a town in Texas in 1937. 500 children are killed in a gas explosion, but there are more victims than that. There are those left behind and the pain and sense of guilt they feel. Years later fate brings two men together in that town and in telling their stories, they find mercy and grace and peace.

Touching Story

I happened upon this book while I was an evacuee during Hurricane Rita. I evacuated from Sugar Land to Wimberley and listened to the author speak at the local library. I love hearing about history, but I don't read very many historical novels. However, just listening to the author talk about the true story of the explosion and listening to a survivor who now lives in Wimberley, made me anxious to read the book. I wasn't disappointed. I was like one of the other reviewers - I had a hard time putting the book down. The main characters had secrets and I needed to know what they were. Be prepared to shed more than a few tears.

A Heart-Cleansing Experience

I stayed up until four in the morning reading Mark McAllister's There Is a Wideness, a nominee for a 2005 First Novel Christy Award. The opening line is incredibly poetic. Who could fail to be captured by these words? "Memory leaks out of an old man like fine sand from a burlap bag, and so I must write down Luke Robertson's story before the details sift away and become lost." No car chase. No explosion. No whiz-bang dialogue. Just a promise of a life-changing story to come. I couldn't put it down. This is a wonderful book. If you know anyone who suffers from deep bitterness or who blames God for some terrible personal tragedy, this book will surely minister to that individual. For any reader, it is sure to be a heart-cleansing experience.

There is a Wideness

Mark McAllister uses a tragedy in East Texas to create a passionate story about two men who struggle against their private demons. I was seized by the depth of the writing and the pain of the characters as they work through their incredible anguish.

Huh, men have feelings too?

This beautifully written novel is told from a male point of view, something I found to be very refreshing. The lives of two broken, emotionally bankrupt men accidentally collide. Initially wary of one another, but perhaps sensing a kindred sprit, the two men gradually share one another's story and in doing so, facilitate a healing and growth which had eluded them for many years. The plot evolves around a terrible, true tragedy that occurred in East Texas in 1937, the New London school explosion, where 300 people, mostly children, were killed. The horror of such tremendous human loss evokes thoughts of recent public tragedies in America and led me to consider how the lives of these two men might have been different had a tragedy of that scale occurred in the present day. It gave me an appreciation of just how much the support system and legal environment of our society has changed. In addition to the school explosion, the author interweaves other historical events from the twenties, thirties, and forties, thereby creating a wonderful sense of time and place. This book enthralls the reader from the very start. Besides the fascinating historical elements of the story, you will witness redemption and spiritual healing, all achieved in a non-preachy manner. This is the kind of book that stays with you for a long while. I find myself recommending it to every discriminating reader I know.