Age Range: 8 - 12 years
by Edith M. Humphrey
Katie discovers that the valley behind her grandmother’s garden is more mysterious than it seems. After tumbling into tenth-century England and encountering Saint Edith of Wilton along with her wild animal menagerie, she is helped home, wondering whether her adventure was truly real. But after Katie, her cousins, and a neighborhood friend are drawn back in time once again, she realizes her grandmother’s garden gate is a portal into faraway worlds, where patron saints are real people making real-life decisions.
Join Katie and her cousins as they mingle with Rachel and Jacob, meet Saint Mary Magdalene up close, trek across the sand with the matriarchs Naomi and Ruth, and have a nail-biting adventure with the heroic Saint Katherine of Alexandria. In seeing the richness of the family of God, they glimpse how very much they are a part of it all.
About the Author: Edith M. Humphrey is an Orthodox mother of three grown daughters and a grandmother of twenty. She teaches Scripture and theology, and she loves to play with her red cavadoodle, Angus. Edith taught for eighteen years at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and before then in various institutions across Canada and the US, while lecturing around the globe in various lay and academic contexts. Besides writing and speaking, she enjoys participating in church activities with her husband, Chris, performing piano duos with a friend, playing oboe in a community band, caring for her koi pond, and writing on topics as diverse as Scripture and C. S. Lewis. This is her first children’s book; writing it has brought her great joy!
Praise for Beyond the White Fence
"This book is a delight! Readers will be enchanted by the plot and characters both ancient and modern, who come alive on the page. Fans of the Chronicles of Narnia will love Beyond the White Fence." -Leslie Baynes, Associate Professor, New Testament and Second Temple Judaism, Department of Religious Studies, Missouri State University
"Beyond the White Fence is a great adventure story told by a seasoned New Testament scholar and theologian who knows a thing or two about great adventure stories. As readers follow these characters into the past, they move beyond the confines of their own imaginations to experience history and Scripture afresh. Perhaps it takes a magical world to remind us of the important truth that the "great cloud of witnesses" is very near to us indeed, and that God's story might actually include, and bring together, the family dog and the characters of Genesis. I look forward to reading this book to my children." -Dr. Tucker S. Ferda, Associate Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary & father of two
"This engaging troupe of kids and cousins take the reader on a series of visits to holy women in the 'great cloud of witnesses.' By turns lively, funny, and suspenseful, these fascinating stories, enhanced by lovely illustrations, enable the reader to know these holy women as real people of their era and community - and as examples to follow in our own time." -Frederica Mathewes-Green, author and speaker
"Simple and deep - like all great children's books - this book is also rich in history and faith. I can't wait to place it in the hands of my grandchildren." -Scott W. Hahn, Founder & President of the St. Paul Center; Author of The Lamb’s Supper; Scanlan Professor of Biblical Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville