I usually associate Lawana Blackwell with historical fiction, so it was a bit of a surprise to find out that she also wrote stories set in contemporary times. When I first started reading A Table by the Window, I thought that the novel was a contemporary romance, but it is more of a story about a wounded and lost sheep returning to the Shepherd's fold. The wounded sheep in question is Carley Reed, a highschool English Literature teacher who suffered through a horrendous childhood with an alcoholic mother, and an abusive stepfather. Carley received the Lord as her Saviour as a child, but after experiencing harm at the hands of her stepfather, who was a church deacon, and being expected to act as a servant/slave in the home of the so called Christian foster parents, who took her in afterwards, Carley is no longer interested in spending time with a God Who would let evil things happen to good and innocent people or with His servants who act like hypocrites.
In the first few chapters of the novel, Carley again experiences unfairness and injustice when the principal of her school refuses to support her against students who have clearly cheated. This is because of the fear that influential relatives of those students would withdraw financial backing. At the same time, Carley discovers that she has received an inheritance from her estranged deceased maternal grandmother. With the knowledge of becoming debt free by claiming her inheritance, and because of her students' continued disrespectful behaviour, Carley finds herself taking a stand for herself and quits her position at the school, and makes her way to Tallulah, Mississippi to learn about her grandmother, her grandmother's sister, Helen, and Helen's family. Beside being neglectful in her care for Carley, her mother had also failed to inform her about other relatives and Carley had lived for years without knowing of their existence. The draw towards family, however unknown, is quite strong for Carley, who doesn't know who her birth father is, and whose only known relatives were her grandparents and mother who have already passed on.
Aunt Helen turns out to be a believer, and is a gentle witness to Carley who is reluctant to draw near to Him. Carley tries to settle her grandmother's estate, intending to return to California, but finds herself resettling in Tallulah, and opening a restaurant instead of returning to teaching. She even finds herself being romantically pursued by the local hero, Police Chief Dale Parker. However, even in Tallulah, Carley continues to encounter people who appear to have been neglected and forgotten by the Lord through unjust circumstances. One of these situations is the abandonment of a woman whose husband had disappeared with a known bad girl; neither the unfaithful husband or his paramour has been seen since then. Another is the unsolved mystery of Pastor Stillman's wife who had died in a hit and run accident. As the plot unfolds, it becomes apparent that someone wants to keep the mysteries unsolved.
The title of the novel refers to a request made by the daughter of the pastor's wife. This young girl requests a table by the window at Carley's restaurant so that she can watch the people who walk by when she and her family are dining there. I'm still trying to figure out what the significance of the title; is it alluding to watching all the people that are walking by in Carley's life, or is it referring to the question of whether the Stillman Family will eventually get justice if they sit back and watch the Lord do His thing? I'm inclined to think that it is the latter, even though this novel seems to have a wide range of characters who pop in and out of Carley's life, with some being unpleasant, others being quirky curiosities, others whom Carley tries to help and give assistance to, and others who encourage Carley to believe that God actually cares.
Carley is a likeable and sympathetic character. Her story made me think about how God can use a person's past, no matter how horrible it is, to minister to other people who may be going through similar circumstances. 2 Corinthians 1:3b-4 says, "...the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." In this novel, Carley reaches out to Brooke Kimball, a teenaged girl who must cope with an alcoholic parent, just as Carley had with her mother.
With respect to justice, this novel also addresses the question about whether God is just and whether He cares about those who belong to Him. Will He allow the wicked to get away with their deeds? According to His Word, we know that He will eventually judge everyone's deeds for all to see, even those done in secret. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." How will these truths be reflected in the plot of "A Table by the Window?"
I think that waiting for God to carry out justice can be a hard thing to do, and sometimes believing that He can turn evil around so that good would result for those who love Him is difficult. However, He did it for Joseph (Genesis 50:20) and He did it ultimately for us through Jesus.
A Table by the Window made me think, especially since it addressed hard questions about the goodness of God. As I mentioned before, it didn't turn out to be the contemporary romance that I thought that I was going to read, and it certainly turned into an interesting piece of suspenseful fiction.
