Monica West

"Fifteen-year-old Miriam Horton is the oldest daughter of a Southern Baptist preacher and faith healer. Every summer, the Hortons pack themselves tight in their old minivan and travel through small southern towns for revival season: the time during which Miriam's father holds massive healing services, drawing thousands of people looking to be cured of ailments and disease. This revival season, though, doesn't go as planned, and after one service in which Reverend Horton's healing powers are tested like never before, Miriam witnesses a shocking act of violence behind the revival tent. From that point on, Miriam's belief in her father-and in her faith-begins to waver. When the Hortons return home from the revival circuit, Miriam's confusion only grows as she discovers that she might have the power to heal-even though her father and the church have always made it clear that this power is denied to women. Over the course of the next year, and as a new revival circuit approaches, Miriam must decide between her faith, her family, and her newfound power that might be able to save others, but, if discovered by her father, could destroy Miriam. A story of spiritual awakening and disillusionment in a southern, black, Evangelical community, REVIVAL SEASON is a haunting novel of complicated familial love, a young girl's coming into herself, and the price of being among the community of the faithful"--

A Novel

Revival Season

Celeste Richardson

Revival Season is not the kind of story I can read completely objectively. My faith is a huge part of my identity. I’m a Christian, and I’ve attended Baptist churches my entire life. When something is so integral to who you are, it’s difficult to remove yourself from a story that centers so profoundly around that trait or belief. And that was one of my biggest problems with this book. There were so many religious red flags that I wanted to take the whole fictional family to counseling. This was a twisted, maimed version of my faith staring back at me from the page, a funhouse reflection of what I believe. I just wanted to look away.  I didn't.  I finished the book.  But it was a struggle for me. 

A particular subset of Christian leaders I’ve always had a ton of issues with is the faith healers. While I fully believe that God is still performing miracles every day, including those so profound that there’s no other explanation, I’ve seen too many exposés on said faith healers lying to congregants and staging their healings in order to gain larger followings or more financial contributions. I don’t trust them as a group, though I’ve never met a self-professed faith healer in person. So it was interesting to see the life of a faith healer from the inside. The story is set in 2017, but it feels more historical than that. I kept thinking about the 70s as I read for some reason. There was something about the lifestyle this man was forcing upon his family that just screamed “abusive situation waiting to happen” to me, while also shooting me back into the past.

I can’t imagine how hard it would be to live with knowing the truth about something while everyone you love believes a lie, and not being able to tell them the truth because you know they would never believe you. Well, I can, but I’m thankful to not be in that situation. But that’s where Miriam, our perspective character, finds herself. She’s the eldest child in this family, and she sees something one night during revival season that leads her to question everything she’s ever known about God and faith and her father. The rest of the story is her wrestling with that knowledge and those questions.

If you’re a Christian, it’s so desperately important to never tie your faith to another person, whether that person is a family member or a preacher or someone famous who professes to follow Christ. The only beings who should be involved in your personal belief are you and God. The same can be said for any religion or belief system. The people in your life will fail you. They’ll make mistakes because they’re human. And if your faith is somehow tied to them, it will break when they do.

I don’t generally do trigger warnings, but there’s a fairly graphic scene depicting self-harm in this book of which I think some more sensitive readers need to be made aware. There’s also a good bit of child and spousal abuse, though most of it happens off-screen, at least in the front half of the story. Between those issues and the depiction of religion, this book was hard for me to read, and I don’t consider myself a particularly sensitive reader in most cases. The unhappiness in this family was palpable from the beginning of the novel and only worsened from there. Something about it felt relentlessly bleak to me. 

For a story so supposedly centered on God, there was actually very little of Him in these pages. While the characters proclaimed faith in God, it felt more like their faith was in either themselves or another person. If any of them prayed for a sign, they would interpret whatever happened as an affirmation. The entire approach to faith and having a relationship with God as portrayed in this book rubbed me the wrong way and made me deeply uncomfortable. Perhaps that’s because I’ve seen this type of religious fervor firsthand in my life, and have seen the damage it can wreak. I think it’s always hard to look at the twisting of your own faith. However, I also think this was a very deliberate, purposeful choice by the author. Because God was indeed present in the pages, and his scarcity made his presence all the more powerful to our perspective character when she did feel Him. Or was it simply the power of her own belief that she felt? That question is one of the things that made the story interesting.

I both hated and respected the ambiguous, open-ended ending. Where the story went after that final sentence is anyone’s guess, which will surely keep it at the front of readerly minds far after they finish the book. But I couldn’t decide if it was a brave decision or a weak one. But that’s often how I feel when reading such endings, and is one of the main reasons I have such a love/hate relationship with literary fiction. 

I’m glad to have read Revival Season. And I’m even more glad that I’ve finally finished reading it. It made me think deeply, and my husband and mom both heard way more about it than I’m sure they wanted to. And it made me feel, though the emotions it evoked the strongest were anger and sadness. This is a book that, while I appreciated it, I didn’t enjoy it, and I won’t be reading it again. That being said, the writing was excellent, and I would definitely be interested in reading more of West’s work.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Cecilia Parada

Monica West debuts with a triumphant and heartbreaking look at a Southern Baptist family taking on small towns for a spiritual Revival Season. West explores the complicated dynamic of religion, family, and secrets within both. 

Miriam Horton is a fifteen-year-old going through every summer's Revival Season with her family. Her father, Samuel Horton, is one of the South's most famous preachers, famed for his healing abilities. During a revival service, Miriam's faith is tested in multiple ways, after seeing her father in an ungodly light. 

The facade that her parents had presented to everyone, including their children begins to slip and crack, showing Miriam things that were hidden from view. This shatters her perception of her father as a holy man. 

Her faith is then shaken by the revelation that she might possess the power to heal, a power the church has made clear was only bestowed to men. 

Revival Season follows Miriam during this year, through her doubt, triumphs, and the decision that will ultimately decide her fate in the Horton household.

Monica West debuts with a triumphant and heartbreaking look at a Southern Baptist family taking on small towns for a spiritual Revival Season. West explores the complicated dynamic of religion, family, and secrets within both.

Miriam Horton is a fifteen-year-old going through every summer's Revival Season with her family. Her father, Samuel Horton, is one of the South's most famous preachers, famed for his healing abilities. During a revival service, Miriam's faith is tested in multiple ways, after seeing her father in an ungodly light.

The facade that her parents had presented to everyone, including their children begins to slip and crack, showing Miriam things that were hidden from view. This shatters her perception of her father as a holy man.

Her faith is then shaken by the revelation that she might possess the power to heal, a power the church has made clear was only bestowed to men.

Revival Season follows Miriam during this year, through her doubt, triumphs, and the decision that will ultimately decide her fate in the Horton household. 

Revival Season A Novel

Reviews