Joyce Meyer, Deborah Bedford The Penny

The Penny

Joyce Meyer, Deborah Bedford

Faith Works, Jun 2007, $21.99

ISBN: 9780446578110

In 1955 St. Louis their father has abused mama, fourteen year old Jenny Blake and her older sister almost eighteen Jean for years. However, all that time, the siblings had each other for comfort, but now Jean is moving out and Jenny not only knows she will miss her, but fears she will not be able to cope as the solo target of their violent dad.

While walking to the movie theater, Jenny sees a penny buried in the ground. Although she knows a penny buys little more than gum or candy at Woolworth's and to remove it from the asphalt will not be easy, Jenny stops to retrieve it anyway. This seemingly innocuous action starting with the Pevery Diary truck driver abruptly hitting his brakes not to run over Jenny, which lead to bottles flying everywhere, which leads to the "Attack of the Killer Shards", which with a few sidebars ultimately led to the mysterious Miss Shaw, owner of Shaw Jewelry, mentoring the owner of the lucky penny.

Known for her inspirational non fiction, Joyce Meyer and popular fiction writer Deborah Bedford provide readers with an entertaining historical that emphasizes the idea little things matter in a big way. That penny incident leads to a friendship between the two females as each has secrets that shame them. Although the obvious dark journey to redemption to include forgiveness seems genuine, the attainment appears abrupt and forced especially as so much has gone on before. Still, with a nod to the butterfly effect of chaos theory, THE PENNY is an interesting character study that focuses on little things mean a lot when it comes to people.

Harriet Klausner