Sparrow

by Gary Porter

Overview

Pastor Judah Greeves and his wife, Esther, live a sad, quiet life in Bethel Hollow, PA. The church they have led together for decades is dying. The small farm they built with their own hands has become unmanageable in their old age. Sparrow, their only daughter, ran away from home six years ago, and they don't know if she is alive or dead. One night, they get a call from a stranger telling them their daughter has overdosed and died, so they pack up their pickup truck the next morning and drive 1,000 miles to identify her body and bring her back home. What happens next shatters their lives into a 1,000 pieces.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666777055
Publisher:	Resource Publications (CA)
Publication date:	08/03/2023
Pages:	66
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.14(d)

About the Author

Gary Porter loves his family with his whole heart. He lives in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, with his beautiful wife and remarkable son, and he has the most generous and loving parents in the world. He works at a homeless shelter. His fiction has previously appeared in Sliver of Stone, Writer’s Bone, and Dark Winter literary magazine.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In Sparrow, Gary Porter tells the compelling story of a family fractured by addiction.

While this story ultimately ends on a hopeful note, he does not sugar coat the characters or their situation. Instead, he offers a world of grit and grief and an unflinching portrayal of addiction. Set primarily in rural western Pennsylvania, the novel faithfully renders both the hard-pressed lives of the inhabitants and the beauties of the landscape.”

—Eric Potter, professor of English, Grove City College



“Pastor Judah Greeves admits to his wife, ‘The whole of creation’s a bad sign, Esther.’ In Gary Porter’s Sparrow, Judah and Esther suffer a crisis of faith, a deteriorating marriage, and financial woes. Together, though, they embark on a quest to find and save their daughter. Porter’s exceptional storytelling is buttressed by insightful imagery that portrays lives on the brink but ones worth living when driven by purpose, honesty, forgiveness, and love.”

—Michael Catello, adjunct professor of general education, South College

Editorial Reviews

In Sparrow, Gary Porter tells the compelling story of a family fractured by addiction.

While this story ultimately ends on a hopeful note, he does not sugar coat the characters or their situation. Instead, he offers a world of grit and grief and an unflinching portrayal of addiction. Set primarily in rural western Pennsylvania, the novel faithfully renders both the hard-pressed lives of the inhabitants and the beauties of the landscape.”

—Eric Potter, professor of English, Grove City College



“Pastor Judah Greeves admits to his wife, ‘The whole of creation’s a bad sign, Esther.’ In Gary Porter’s Sparrow, Judah and Esther suffer a crisis of faith, a deteriorating marriage, and financial woes. Together, though, they embark on a quest to find and save their daughter. Porter’s exceptional storytelling is buttressed by insightful imagery that portrays lives on the brink but ones worth living when driven by purpose, honesty, forgiveness, and love.”

—Michael Catello, adjunct professor of general education, South College

From the Publisher