By Philip Yancey, published 2023, 300 pages

Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, grew up in 1950’s Atlanta, Georgia. His father died when the the brothers were very young. Through this devastating turn of events, his mother was convinced her sons were destined for a special appointment by God, namely missionaries to Africa. Earning their meager room and board by teaching Bible classes, she struggled to raise the boys among the influences of southern fundamentalism, the civil rights movement and the disturbing effects of 60’s era social change. During their teenage years the family bonds were tested even more as Philip and his brother struggled to understand their mother’s expectations. Although their knowledge of the Bible was extensive, they did not understand a relationship with God. What is real and what is fake? asked Marshall.

Philip copes by attempting to please his mother and God, and when these fail, he turns to nature, music and literature. Eventually he adopts the attitude of a cynic and becomes the black sheep at the Bible College he attends. Yet God does not leave him alone, and his hunger for the truth leads to an inevitable meeting between the two. As impossible as it seems, God comes through with forgiveness and hope. Trauma had cast it’s spell of darkness, but when the light fell, it illuminated a way forward.

It is never too late for grace and forgiveness — unless a person determines it is.

Philip Yancey in Where the Light Fell

We read Where the Light Fell for February Book Club. I really enjoyed it. There are difficult places and also uplifting passages. I so appreciated his attitude toward his mother, after he had examined the facts of their lives. Read it and learn how God can get through to those who seek, even in unfavorable circumstances.

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Where the Light Fell is a memoir. Do you know how to tell if a book is an autobiography, a biography or a memoir? The definitions can be a bit overlapping, but usually a book will fit one category better than the others.

An autobiography is a book written by the person who personally experienced the events told about in the book. It often covers an entire lifetime and many different topics. This book will follow a chronological order from beginning to end. Examples on So She Reads would be My Life’s History by Grandma Moses.

A biography is a story written about somebody else’s life. The author researches a person’s life, often famous person or an unusual life, and constructs a story from these facts. I don’t see an example on So She Reads.

A memoir is a narrative about a part of a life. It is written by the person who lived it, and includes many memories, like the autobiography. The focus of a memoir is narrow. It is not as concerned with facts as it is with the feelings of the author. Usually, they write the memoir to work through a difficulty or trauma they experienced, or to explain a particular interest they have. Memoir allows the author to try to make sense of their own life, and convince you, the reader, to agree with him. Examples: Educated

Each of these genres are considered non-fiction, meaning they are true. Memoir has the most license to blur the lines; it may not be factually true, as others who were there may not describe the events the same way. But it is emotionally true as it relates how the author felt about the things he experienced. Memory is notoriously inaccurate, but the feelings are real, whether we want them to be or not.

Reading how other’s came to understand their past better, helps us to understand ourselves, too.

–Liz