About the Book

Book: Muldoon’s Misfortunes

Author: EV Sparrow

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction

Release date: July 16, 2024

A cursed widower forsakes his faith to ensure his hope.

On a verdant island beset by poverty and death, Mick Muldoon dares to escape his misfortunes. Is working a farm and raising a family such an impossible thing to ask? Wasn’t God supposed to answer prayers—not turn a deaf ear?

After surviving the treacherous voyage to America, Mick discovers the rumors of ample opportunity aren’t exactly true. His defective body hampers employment and keeps him dependent upon his peculiar sister. However, an unexpected invitation to move to the heartland guarantees his dreams.

Mick’s own dreadful choices hamper his hopes when he accepts work as a widow’s farmhand. Unbeknownst to him, there’s deception afoot. Mick’s inattention to love causes catastrophe as single fatherhood cruelly shatters his family. Will God miraculously hear his prayers this time?

In Book 1 of Those Resilient Muldoons series, this misguided, wayward widower encounters God’s unexpected presence.

My Review:

Mick Muldoon’s life of loss of his family and his hardships are a poignant depiction of the Irish who immigrated to the United States. Hoping for a better life, it was hard to see the things Mick Muldoon went through that included prejudice and injustice. This was based upon the author’s great grandfather’s life and I enjoyed reading her notes at the end that gave more background for the story.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher and author through Celebrate Lit. All opinions expressed are my own with no obligation to write a review.

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About the Author

Sparrow has served on missions, worship, and prayer teams and in Divorce Care and Single’s Ministry. She’s now a published short story writer turned novelist. Sparrow offers readers encounters with God’s unexpected presence through her character’s adventures. She once bought a one-way ticket to Israel to work on a kibbutz and spent a weekend hopping a freight train. As Grammy to seven grandchildren, they ask why she always buys them books.

More from EV

Muldoon’s Misfortunes is Book 1 in Those Resilient Muldoons historical fiction series.

In Ireland’s history, there was a time when it was wild, fraught with peril, and without knowledge of God Almighty. Then came St. Patrick, a real man, determined to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that pagan island. The transformation of that country from the spiritual darkness it worshiped was phenomenal. Yet ancient superstitions remain.

Certain aspects of my great-grandfather’s life in the 1800s inspired my Irish main character, Mick Muldoon. Mick’s faith is a traditional type and a profound piece that holds together Irish communities. He often secretly doubts God cares anything about him. He could be invisible for all the attention He pays to Mick’s prayers. But God, being who He is, won’t allow that misconception forever. Mick encounters God’s unexpected presence several times without recognizing it. God persists in pursuing him.

When we’re brokenhearted, we can easily miss the signs of His presence. We may grapple with our beliefs or more intimacy with God in the modern world as well. Do we believe our God can’t see us, or hear our prayers, or that He struggles with drawing close to us because we’re unworthy and He is holy? Do we make choices because of our misbeliefs that can unbalance the God ordained, spiritual strength triangle of faith, hope and love?

Mick’s faith weakens further with his disappointments and influences of the wild and lawless lands during the Gilded Age. He sets damaging things into motion that he could’ve avoided. He’s glad to be finally free of the religious culture of Ireland and living like his chums, and what’s wrong with that?

Because he believes God didn’t pay any attention to him, he doesn’t expect any consequences. He’s in control of his own life now. The results of his choices bring him face to face with his choices, and a holy God He thought ignored him, and the blessings He bestows despite Mick’s misbeliefs.

I hope readers will find more faith in a loving God from Mick’s story as well.