Product Description

If Mama were here, everything would still be right. Or at least not as bad wrong as it had become. But Mama was dead, and Papa was gone, her brother and sisters scattered. And she was here… Mary Bridget Washburn was tired of running, tired of being haunted by the empty shell her life had become. How in the world did the little girl she'd once been now become a woman on the wrong side of the law? Determined to make a new start, she escapes to the quaint city of Alexandria, Virginia, where she takes on her mother’s identity and finds sanctuary in the shadow of a decades-old church. But a little girl’s plea proves her undoing, and the Reverend…well, someone’s got to open his eyes before disaster comes calling. Can Mary Bridget hide her tainted past long enough to bring hope to a family falling apart?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1924611 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-25
• Released on: 2006-04-25
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook, MP3 Audio
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .53" h x 5.42" w x 7.50" l, .20 pounds
• Binding: MP3 CD

From Library Journal
Romance novelist Nichols (Handyman) enters the Christian market with this contemporary tale of love and suspense. Abandoning her godly upbringing after the siblings she raised for years are placed in foster care, Mary Bridget ("Bridie") Washburn flees the hills of Virginia with a man who forces her into a life of crime. She eventually reports him to the police and strikes out on her own. Assuming a new identity, Bridie lives a quiet life until she meets a teenaged girl begging God for help. Alasdair MacPherson, the girl's father, is a widowed pastor struggling to raise three children after his wife's suicide. When he hires Bridie as a nanny for his troubled family, her faith is rekindled, and she and Alasdair slowly fall in love. But their happiness is threatened when the man Bridie sent to jail is released and tracks her down seeking vengeance. Although the drama created by the suicide of Alasdair's wife offsets the stock characters and predictable plot, the characters' cool acceptance of it and lack of moral condemnation of her or the deed may trouble more conservative Christian readers. For larger collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Mary Bridget Washburn has run away from her unhappy life and ends up in Alexandria, Virginia, calling herself Bridie and living an unremarkable life. One day, while at church, Bridie sees a teenaged girl begging God for help. Then at the widowed Reverend Alastair MacPherson's house Bridie sees the troubled teenager again. When MacPherson hires Bridie to be nanny to his children, everything changes in her life and theirs. Joyce Bean narrates this love story with enthusiasm, encouraging listeners to grasp the moral message of this contemporary Christian fiction. While Nichols has created a traditional romance, there is no subtlety in the Christian themes. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Nichols' Not a Sparrow Falls opens with the escape of Mary Bridget Washburn, an Appalachian girl on the verge of womanhood, from her boyfriend and his cohorts, who run a meth lab. With a false identity and a little cash, Mary flees for the upscale city of Alexandria, where she falls in love with a widowed pastor who is beset with troubles involving his children and his job. And poor Mary--now calling herself Bridie Collins--may carry too much baggage to be of any help. Mary and the reverend are both somewhat idealized, but Nichols doesn't jerk them around eliciting sobs; she strikes a realistic, original note with a dash of humor. John Mort
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