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    Little Faith: A Novel
    Little Faith: A Novel
    Little Faith: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Little Faith: A Novel

    Written by Nickolas Butler

    Narrated by Danny Campbell

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    About this audiobook

    In this moving new novel from celebrated author Nickolas Butler, a Wisconsin family grapples with the power and limitations of faith when one of their own falls under the influence of a radical church.

    Lyle Hovde is at the onset of his golden years, living a mostly content life in rural Wisconsin with his wife, Peg, daughter, Shiloh, and six-year old grandson, Isaac. After a troubled adolescence and subsequent estrangement from her parents, Shiloh has finally come home. But while Lyle is thrilled to have his whole family reunited, he’s also uneasy: in Shiloh’s absence, she has become deeply involved with an extremist church, and the devout pastor courting her is convinced Isaac has the spiritual ability to heal the sick.

    While reckoning with his own faith—or lack thereof—Lyle soon finds himself torn between his unease about the church and his desire to keep his daughter and grandson in his life. But when the church’s radical belief system threatens Isaac’s safety, Lyle is forced to make a decision from which the family may not recover.

    Set over the course of one year and beautifully evoking the change of seasons, Little Faith is a powerful and deeply affecting intergenerational novel about family and community, the ways in which belief is both formed and shaken, and the lengths we go to protect our own.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 5, 2019
    ISBN9780062891815
    Author

    Nickolas Butler

    Nickolas Butler was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His award-winning debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, was an international bestseller and has been optioned for film by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Butler graduated from the University of Wisconsin before attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and currently lives in Wisconsin with his wife and their two children.

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    Reviews for Little Faith

    4/5

    68 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Wow. This novel is so sad and beautiful. Such a wonderful vivid depiction of Wisconsin, with lots of lovely tiny touches that really bring the place alive!
    • 5/5
      Lyle and Peg live in a small Wisconsin town. Their adult daughter, Shiloh, and her son Isaac live with them. Shiloh becomes involved with a new charismatic church in nearby La Crosse and becomes engaged to its minister. This minister and Shiloh believe that Isaac has the gift of healing. This new relationship causes Lyle's relationship with Shiloh to become strained as he doubts the minister's intentions. The novel ends with Isaac in a diabetic coma because his parents chose to pray over him rather than seek medical attention.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written book with interesting and accessible characters. I would have given it 4 stars except that the ending left too many open questions and was not satisfying to this reader. Still, I loved the author's writing style and will try some of his other works.
    • 3/5
      Little Faith. Nicolas Butler. 2019. The author says this novel was based on true events that happened in Wisconsin. It is a sweet and sad little novel that that is very readable. I have never given Wisconsin much thought but the author’s descriptions have made me think it would be a beautiful place to visit, but scenic Wisconsin is not the subject of this book. Lyle and Peg Hovde lost a son before he was a year old; their sad lives took on new meaning when they were given the chance to adopt a baby girl, Shiloh. They lavished all their love on Shiloh who became a difficult teen and college student. After some years Shiloh returned home with her son, and this was an answered prayer. Lyle and Peg fall in love with 5 year old Isaac instantly. Life is wonderful until Shiloh becomes involved in a strange church. She becomes more and more involved with Simon, the young handsome pastor. Lyle took an instant dislike to the pastor and is torn up when Shiloh moves out and into a rundown duplex with Simon. Simon claims Isaac has special powers to heal, and Shiloh claims Lyle’s lack of faith is harmful to Isaac wants Lyle to stay away from Isaac. One day Peg and Lyle are called to pick up Isaac from school, and when they rush him to the hospital they are told he suffers from untreated juvenile diabetes. Shiloh takes him from the hospital and refuses to let Peg and Lyle see their beloved grandson. Disaster follows.
    • 4/5
      I read about fundamentalist and cult faiths for the same reason I read true crime – I don't understand the minds of the people involved, and I want to. And sadly, sometimes the two intermingle.This story is different than others I've read because it's about an outsider looking in. A wonderful couple, Lyle and Peg, are losing their much beloved daughter and grandson to a faith healing church with a sketchy pastor, and it's breaking their hearts. But especially Lyle, whose lack of faith makes him the evil one, despite his good intentions and his love.It's hard for me to put my finger on why some fictional characters come to life for me, and some do not. This family did, especially Lyle. This story felt so real to me, and I could feel the emotions, see the places. I'm glad I read this one.
    • 3/5
      Possibly 3.5 stars. I enjoyed Lyle's character immensely, but the story was just okay. Some readers found the abrupt ending bad, but I thought it was fitting. Most readers will enjoy this straightforward novel about faith and family.
    • 4/5
      65 yo Lyle Hovde is the main character of this book. He and his wife, Peg, live in a small town in rural Wisconsin where they have lived all of their lives. Their adopted adult daughter, Shiloh, and her 5 yo son, Isaac, are living with them while Shiloh gets back on her feet after several years away from her parents. Lyle & Peg have attended the same Lutheran church most of their lives. The current pastor is an old friend of Lyle's, who came to his calling late in life. Lyle's relationship to the church is one of habit rather than faith, his faith being shaken long ago at the death of their infant son. Peg has more of a commitment to her faith. Shiloh has become involved in a more contemporary, fundamentalist church in her time away. She presses Lyle and Peg on their faith and insists they visit her new church where it appears the charismatic preacher, Steven, has a hold over Shiloh and Isaac. The book takes place over the course of a year. Lyle is losing his best friend, Hoot, to lung cancer. He is also struggling to keep his family together, to maintain a relationship with Shiloh despite her ever increasingly narrow religious views. And most of all to be able to be with his grandson, Isaac. But Steven inserts himself between Shiloh and her family, and is manipulating her and Isaac to his own ends. The writing captures the essence of small town life that is rapidly disappearing from our culture. It is strong on character development, though a bit sentimental, and perhaps a little too tongue in cheek about Lyle & Hoot's preference for old rock music and muscle cars. Some have compared this book to Kent Haruf's writing....I wouldn't go that far. But perhaps with greater maturity Butler will get there. The author notes that the book is inspired by a true story, which is exceptionally sad.
    • 4/5
      One of those quiet books, with some great, well rounded and hard-working characters. The kind of book that gets under your skin and into your heart. Rural Wisconsin, Peg and Lyle, long married, retired, feel fortunate to have an adopted daughter, Shiloh. Their grandson Isaac, eight, a joy in their lives, and when Shiloh moves back home with her son, they are over the moon. Peg, a firm believer, regular church goer, the complete opposite of her husband, who struggles with believing in a higher power. When Shiloh becomes involved with a newer, more suspect church, they are both stunned, but willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Until she moves out and in with the pastor of that church, and they find out things that are, they believe detrimental to their grandson.Characterizations are this authors strongg suit here, he does such a great job that I came to feel as if they were people i actually knew. The ups and downs of a long marriage that has wethered its share of ups and downs. Gorgeous descriptions of the natural settings and of the apple orchard where Lyle helps out part time. Faith, the different ways it is expressed, how it can be harmful if wieled in the wrong hand. The love of parents, unconditional, for their offspring and their offspring. Friendship, the kind that endures, the kind on which you can always count. The best part though is that the author doesn't hold the readers hand, his ending shows his trust that we are bright enough to fill it in on our own.ARC from Edelweiss.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoy Nickolas Butler's books. He's very good at capturing small-town and Midwestern life.