Bookpoint is a bookshop and library ministry from Hall Green Baptist Church
Open on Tuesdays from 1pm to 3pm and Saturday from 1pm to 3pm
Please contact Kath Blanchard for more information.


Coming soon…
Hall Green Library went into hibernation for the summer as we extended the shop display area prior to Emily Owen’s visit. We now have four new shelves especially for the library, in the chapel building, where we hope to start arranging some of the library stock (including some new books!) very soon.
Watch this space and the space at the front of the chapel for further news!


Meet Emily Day

We finally made it! After two postponed visits due to Covid lockdown and illness, we were able to have our ‘Meet Emily Owen’ day at BookPoint on March 25th. With 20% off all stock and book-signing of her own books by the author, we had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day. The writing workshop led by Emily drew five budding writers to exercise their skills and Emily had opportunity to tell of her writing journey, later in the afternoon, which began following diagnosis of a serious illness (NF2) which has left her profoundly deaf.

Emily’s journey was not only a ‘writing’ one, but a ‘spiritual ‘one too, as she told of how she had ‘made a commitment to God’ as a young child but it was only as she entered her teenage years that her commitment was tested as she endured, among other things, the discovery of two massive tumours in her brain, a lengthy coma, paralysis of her legs for several months, as well as tumours continuing to develop all over her body, leading to various operations. Through it all God has taught her how to see rainbows through the rain in her everyday life (as illustrated on the cover of her memoir, ‘Still Emily’) and to remember ‘not to worry about tomorrow as God is already there’.


Book Reviews

Book Review

“They Whisper About Us,” by Joy Vee is a fictional story with a Kingdom message- it glorifies God and points people to Jesus. It centres around two girls, one a ballerina in the Soviet Union who has never heard of the Gospel, and one an aspiring public speaker from present-day Lincoln who is wrestling with it. When she finds an old tea tin and a set of ballerina shoes in her local theatre, we begin to discover how the stories of these two girls are intertwined.
I loved the insight into life in the Soviet Union during the 1960s from a young person’s perspective, and
particularly the clandestine ways in which the young ballerina is taught parts of the Bible. The events of her life are never predictable, and though the book contains emotional twists, God’s grace is a clear vein throughout.
The questions that both the ballerina and the girl from Lincoln struggle with can resonate with people of all ages.
“The Letters She Never Sent,” occurs alongside the first book, but from different characters’ perspectives, and only in the present day. It is written through short letters and diary extracts. The story is both sweet in the relationships it portrays, and gripping in the unravelling of events through the contrasting voices of the two main characters. You’ll gobble it up after reading “They Whisper About Us”!
These books are mostly told from the perspectives of young girls, but the truths and themes are mature
enough to strike or encourage anyone- whether to hearten a Christian or introduce a non-Christain to our
faith.

Memorable Loss
by Karen Martin

When Kath asked us to read a book and write a review on it, this book just jumped out at me as dementia took my mother ten years ago.
It’s a story about two ladies, both teachers although Kathleen, who the story is about, is retired. They met at a church group and instantly struck up a
friendship despite Karen being warned off by her friend as Kathleen was an ex- deputy head and there being an age gap of over 40 years.
It’s a tale of Kathleen’s journey into dementia so there are some tears (in my case, particularly when she had her MMSE [mini-mental state examination])
and some smiles, notably when asking her to sign the Do not Resuscitate order “…what are we waiting for? I don’t want to be late for my appointment with God.”
As it says in the book, every case of dementia/Alzheimer’s is different as hers was to mine and will be with anyone else who had had to cope/is coping with someone suffering so there is quite a bit of medical detail in this book alongside the story of the deep friendship that grew between the two women and their shared faith.
To quote Sam Allberry in the beginning of the book: “This book is poignant, insightful and hopeful. It will equip and edify in equal measure.”
I could not agree more.

LS

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