This is a Sunday book; it contains an evangelical sermon with a major character making a commitment to Christ. It is not connected in any way to Cynthia Voigt's Sons from Afar. (I e-mailed the author about this; she had not been aware of the earlier book with the same name.) After a brief appearance here on a Monday, this review will be reposted on a Sunday, per site policy.
Title: Sons from Afar
Author: Columba Booth
Date: 2026
Quote: "God was about to hand us a miracle with this job in California."
When the Browns move to California to work for a church, they meet the Ropers, who aggressively "rope them in" to the Crossing the River project. A little investigation reveals that the immigrants they're trying to help are illegal. A little more suggests that they're being illegally trafficked. Mrs. Brown, who didn't want to get involved in risky charity projects, soon finds herself in a car chase, leading cartel members into a police trap, while hauling a van load of children to a "safe house."
I think the ending of this story is too good to be true, but it does give a picture--it'd make a good "moving picture"!--of the complexities of illegal immigration into the United States.The Ropers, who claim to think everyone's entitled to live in the US and spend money lavishly on the migrants in their care, privately refer to these people as "product" they sell. A child found hungry and dirty turns out to be the son of well-off parents, kidnapped by their political enemies. The question of whether to help people cross borders illegally, or help them earn more money where they are, has nothing to do with "race." This novel is obviously fiction but, if it provokes people to look up the facts behind it, it will be an eye opener.
The title refers to a subplot in which a character whose foster parenting experience didn't end well reconnects with her foster son, and the idea that the risks of things like foster parenting are worth the rewards.
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