Prayers for Sale (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her charming new novel, Dallas (The Persian Pickle Club; Tallgrass; etc.) offers up the unconventional friendship between Hennie Comfort, a natural storyteller entering the twilight of her life, and Nit Spindle, a naïve young newlywed, forged in the isolated mining town of Middle Swan, Colo., in 1936. When the two meet, Hennie recognizes her younger self in Nit, and she's immediately struck with a desire to nurture and guide Nit, who is lonely and adrift in her new hometown and her brand-new marriage. As Hennie regales Nit with stories and advice, the two become inseparable and pass several seasons huddled around their quilting with the other women of Middle Swan. Even though Hennie maintains an air of c'est la vie as she unravels her life story, Nit and the reader soon realize there are tragedies and secrets hidden behind Hennie's tranquil demeanor. This satisfying novel will immediately draw readers into Hennie and Nit's lives, and the unexpected twists will keep them hooked through to the bittersweet denouement. (Apr.)
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From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Caroline Preston Hennie Comfort is the best storyteller in Middle Swan, a gold-mining town high in the Colorado Rockies, and after 86 years, she's accumulated plenty of tales from losing one husband in the Civil War and another in a mine explosion. One wintry afternoon in 1936, 17-year-old Nit Spindle turns up on Hennie's front porch. A transplant from the South like Hennie and a new bride who has just lost a baby, Nit yearns for a little company and guidance. "The girl Nit needed help if she was to become a mountain woman. Hennie had a lifetime of stories she wanted to tell one more time." So begins Sandra Dallas's sentimental eighth novel, "Prayers for Sale," about the redemptive power of women's friendship. Over the next four seasons, Hennie shows Nit how to survive in Middle Swan. She takes her on a hike up the mountain to the best raspberry patch, initiates her into the quilting circle and explains the goings-on at the Willows, the local "hookhouse." Every deserted homestead, caved-in mineshaft and forlorn gravestone they pass inspires one of Hennie's stories. "Prayers for Sale" works best in these anecdotes about busted prospectors, gamblers, moonshiners and lonely wives, who, Dallas explains in her introduction, are based on the early history of Breckenridge, Colo. But the book's most powerful presence is the dredge mine that "squatted in the mountain streams up the gulch." The only thing worse than the day-and-night screeching of the "gold boats" is when they fall silent, which means there's been an accident. Unfortunately, Hennie and Nit's touching bond is undermined by clunky prose. While sharing stories, Hennie and the other characters often chuckle -- 19 times, to be exact, which makes for a lot of chuckling in a fairly short novel. Nit finds her own voice as a storyteller by the end of the book, but initially she gushes like a first grader with lines like: " 'That's the best story,' Nit said, clapping her hands." Despite its flaws, though, "Prayers for Sale" is as bighearted as Hennie herself, who hands out stout winter coats to miners' wives, saying they're hand-me-downs when, in fact, they're brand-new, ordered in secret from the Sears catalogue.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312385188
• ISBN-13: 978-0312385187
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,890 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!, March 21, 2009

By	Tamela Mccann "taminator1" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Hennie Comfort knows she's getting old--she's 86--but she doesn't want to leave her mountain home of Middle Swan, Colorado, to go live with her daughter in Iowa. Still, there comes a time when Hennie figures she must face the facts and give in to her daughter's pleadings, so she sets the end of the year 1936 as the time when she'll begrudgingly move. But there's lots to be done in the months left, including befriending the new young neighbor, Nit Spindle, and working through some things Hennie's managed to set aside for many years. Thus kicks off Sandra Dallas's new novel, Prayers For Sale; sit back and let the story wash over you as the pages turn themselves.

Hennie's a real character, and a mainstay of the town since she came out seventy years before to marry Jake Comfort, sight unseen. Hennie's lifelong passion has been quilting, and just as she stitches quilts throughout the book, her own story unravels for Nit as she shares it with the lonely young woman. Hennie's figured out quite a bit about people in her long life, but she's still got a few things left to tend to before she leaves her home, and the friendship she develops with the much younger woman is the basis for the flashbacks into Hennie's life. The bond created between the two women is strong; centered around children both have lost, they find they can share each other's burdens over a quilting frame. Hennie doesn't actually offer prayers for sale, however; her prayers are frequent and fervent and she intervenes when necessary.

This is such a delightful tale with such strong, well-written characters that I hated to see it end. I could easily picture Hennie's dry sense of humor and her good will in trying to bring Nit into the town's social circle. In my mind's eye, I could see Hennie telling the stories as she worked over her "piecings", and I felt the same impact from them that Nit was experiencing. The ending is a bit of a surprise--not unwelcome, but surprising nonetheless. I was left smiling, knowing I will hold these dear people with me for a very long time. Highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Come, pull up a chair and listen to Hennie Comfort's tales, April 2, 2009

By	PT Cruiser "PT Cruiser" (CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

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This is one of those "comfortable books" a book that draws you in, encourages you to sit a spell and totally immerse yourself in the story. The characters in this small mountain town in Colorado, Hennie, Nit, Dick, Tom, Monalisa and others are introduced by Sandra Dallas in a way that makes you feel that you could live right next door. This little mining town is bitterly cold more than half the year, and the dredge mining has taken it's toll, but the characters are warm and complex.

The novel takes place in 1936 during the Depression and is in the folksy local language of that time. The way she writes makes you just want to snuggle in and become part of this town and era, learning about the characters and their secrets. Most of this is done through Hennie, age 86 and her stories that she tells to Nit, a 17 year old young wife who has recently moved to the town with her husband for a job. The area can be unforgiving with it's cold winters, constant noise of the dredges and it's tight knit community, but Hennie takes an instant liking to Nit and feels protective toward her.

I hated to see this book end. It was a different sort of book than those I usually read, but I will look for Sandra Dallas's other books after reading this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uplifting Tale of Survival, March 12, 2009

By	the ArtWench (the Deep South) - See all my reviews

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I find it amazing that a book written about the gritty hardships endured by those who chose to follow the gold can be so uplifting and witty. Sandra Dallas wrote about a bleak and depressing subject in such a way that the reader comes away better for the reading of it. We are talking about pain and loss such as we in this modern age very rarely (thankfully) experience. And her characters survive and keep going, in spite of their pain. The primary character, Hennie Comfort, may be 86; but, she is filled with more life than many of my contemporaries. Read this book. It is good for your soul.