New Novel Portrays Nursing Home As a Doorway to Eternal Joy

   To many Americans, a nursing home is the despised last stop before heading into the Great Beyond. Not so for this Waukesha writer. I’ve been devoted to one such facility for 25 years. And I can report with confidence that the right nursing home can be the doorway to meaningful friendships, unleashed creativity, and even eternal joy.

   This conviction is the reason I wrote The Song of Sadie Sparrow (FaithHappenings Publishers). Set against the backdrop of life’s twilight years, it’s the story of three vastly different women whose lives intersect in a fictional Wisconsin facility called The Hickories. 

   Sadie Sparrow, Meg Vogel and Elise Chapelle represent different generations. They have experienced different sorrows and entertain different hopes. They even adhere to different worldviews, from devoutly and nominally Christian to unapologetically atheist. Yet over the course of a single year, they forge bonds that impact each other’s lives today — and perhaps for all eternity. 

   The story opens as Sadie arrives at The Hickories, feeling utterly abandoned by her oh-so-busy daughter Dana.

   “In all her eighty-six years, Sadie Sparrow had never been as miserable as she was this dreary Saturday afternoon. Not even Ed’s death could compare to being cast aside by her only daughter, packed up and ...

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