Pansies

Pansies, Carol Barrett’s collection of thirty slight, delicate vignettes, recounts her experience of the Apostolic Lutheran community through the lens of the young, Apostolic woman, Abigail, who babysits for her daughter. Each brief yet intimate piece housed within this collection renders the indelible bond formed between Abigail and the narrator’s daughter with grace and wonder. Barrett’s prose is precise. Honed with care and a keen sense of language, each vignette distilled to its essential essence. The love and admiration Barrett develops for Abigail is palpable, as is Abbie’s own devotion, not only to Barrett and her daughter, but her own community and way of life. Pansies is a vital, touching tribute to the necessity of human connection, and the astonishing power of transcending that which divides us.