Charity's Reading Log

The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard - This book is one that once you start reading, you just won't be able to put down! It took me a mere two days to fly through it, unprecedented for the usually slow reader. A very well-written and suspensful mystery, Pickard creates compelling and believable characters that her reader can't help but come to love. Her small-town setting, where everyone knows everyone, lends itself to the intimacy and closeness of all the characters. Each action of each character results in profound consequences for the others.

Set in Kansas, this is the story of many people. Rex, Abby, Mitch, and "The Virgin". Upon the discovery of the naked girl, dead, in a snowstorm one dark night, the town of Small Plains is changed forever. No one knows who she is, but the town embraces that and gives her a proper burial. Eventually she comes to be revered as a miracle worker who heals those who petition her. Many years later, old wounds are opened, questions begin to be asked, and the identity of the girl is revealed at a high price to many....especially those you would never have suspected.