Lights
Out in Mitford
By MARCIA
Z. NELSON
c. 2005. Publishers Weekly
October 24, 2005
The last train to Mitford, N.C., pulls out November 8, when Light
from Heaven—the final volume in a nine-book series of novels
chronicling the life of smalltown clergyman Timothy Kavanagh—lands
in bookstores. Author Jan Karon, creator of the Episcopal priest
and a sharply etched supporting cast of dozens of characters,
is turning out the lights in the fictional town tucked in the
hills of North Carolina. She says it's time.
"I just didn't have anything else to say of vital importance,"
Karon tells PW in a telephone interview from her farm in Charlottesville,
Va. "I had told the story."
That story of aging, balding Father Tim; his faithful big, black
dog Barnabas; and the mostly good, and a couple of bad, citizens
of Mitford began more than a decade ago, when At Home in Mitford
was published. With more than 20 million Mitford books in print,
the series has engaged legions of readers. In addition to the
novels, Mitfordiana includes two Christmas-themed books, The
Mitford Snowmen (2001) and Esther's Gift (2002);
a cookbook, Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader
(2004); and two collections of Father Tim's wisdom, Patches
of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes (2001) and A
Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration (2005).
Karon's roots are in the evangelical Christian market, and she
created Mitford with faith as its axis. Father Tim; his wife,
Cynthia Coppersmith Kavanagh; and the townspeople of Mitford spend
lots of time in prayer and at Father Tim's church services, coffee
hours and "covered dishes" (church suppers). The first
three Mitford books were published by Lion, a small evangelical
house, before Viking became Karon's exclusive publisher with book
number four, Out to Canaan.
Yet Karon resists being placed in the religion category. "I
really don't write for Christians," she says. "I write
for a secular audience, specifically to let them know, however
I might, that God really does love us." While that message
sounds as if it might come from a pulpit, it doesn't. Though she
once wanted to be a preacher, Karon writes novels rather than
homilies. "People can say to me, 'You're not preachy, and
that's how I can approach your books.' "
Crossing the Divide
Karon's fiction is challenging to label. It was the first to cross
over in a major way what can be a River Jordan–like divide
between the evangelical Christian market and the general mainstream.
Her books have won Christy and Gold Medallion awards, distinctions
in the evangelical market. At Home in Mitfordwas also nominated
three years running—1996, 1997 and 1998—for an ABBY
(American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles
that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers. Out
to Canaan made the bestseller lists, as have all the subsequent
novels.
The divide in bookstores is a literal one. Fiction and Christian
fiction are shelved in different places, and the label "Christian
fiction" can be pretty sticky. Authors are "kind of
pigeonholed once they come out as a Christian fiction author,"
says Sally Dumont, health and well-being buyer at Joseph Beth
Booksellers, an eight-store chain in three southeastern states.
"They end up getting shelved continually where they first
came out."
While Karon's work is filled with religious characters and traditional
values, the words wholesome, clean or gentle also fit. Those are
some of the terms Viking editor Carolyn Carlson used when she
first pitched the books more than a decade ago, after agent Liz
Darhansoff presented her with Karon's early Mitford books. "It
was different, and it still is different, from anything else on
the bestseller list," says Carlson, an executive editor.
"When I brought this up, people had a real hard time getting
what I was saying." Carlson herself recognized the world
of Mitford immediately from her own childhood. She is the daughter
of a retired Lutheran minister. "I know that church community
world, so I just fell in love" with Karon's work, Carlson
says.
The good folks at Viking/Penguin got it eventually, persuaded
in part by the author's own vigorous efforts to market her early
novels. Karon brought to the publisher not only books but a following
and a talent for promotion. A former advertising executive, Karon
had developed her own marketing materials and visited booksellers.
"She worked very, very hard to get the word of mouth and
bookstore sales going in her region," says Carlson. And though
it has a strong Southern mountain flavor, the appeal of the Mitford
saga quickly spread far from its home turf. "We found Mitford
lovers from coast to coast," says Carlson.
Spreading the Word
For her part, Karon, 68, with classic disarming Southern graciousness,
offers words of affection for Viking. "I was thrilled and
quite surprised when Penguin, quite clearly a secular publisher,
got behind these books with the most extraordinary and ardent
enthusiasm," Karon says.
Karon is also helping get her last Mitford novel before readers.
A fall tour includes stops from Brookdale Baptist Church in Bloomfield,
N.J., to Washington National Cathedral, as well as benefit events.
Karon enjoys interaction with readers and has heard from thousands.
Her Web site, www.mitfordbooks.com,
includes a membership community and a bulletin board. The biggest
topic contains more than 62,000 posts. "I really do enjoy
meeting my readers, and I enjoy speaking very, very much,"
she says.
For a time, Hallmark also got behind Mitford. A line of collectibles
from the greeting card and gift giant brought to shelf life the
world of Mitford. But that relationship, somewhat like a marriage,
ended after a few years. Karon says it didn't work out. "It
was kind of odd, even a bit confusing for readers," she says.
Even though the curtain is going down on Mitford, Father Tim's
fans get a reprieve. His story goes on, as the clergyman hits
the road in a planned series of three books about his travels.
The first novel, called Home to Holly Springs, takes Father Tim
back to his Mississippi hometown. Karon promises that Father Tim
will have a life-changing experience there. "He'll be given
a gift that could cost him everything," she says mysteriously.
That hint will have to suffice until 2007, the expected publication
date. Until then, fans can dream of the possibilities with the
Mitford Bedside Companion, a compilation of readers' favorite
scenes, due out in fall 2006.
If there is more Jan Karon to come, are there more Jan Karons
out there? Carlson says Karon's work only looks easy. "In
a few sentences she can introduce a new character and you are
intrigued by this person," Carlson says. "That is in
some ways like a Jane Austen." Karon's language and sense
of humor are also part of what makes her difficult to clone. Not
that others haven't tried. "I have gotten a lot of submissions,"
Carlson says.
Karon seems a little puzzled herself that there aren't more like
her. "I think you just have to have a heart for wanting to
write clean books," she says. "It's in many ways—short-term
ways—more exciting to use barbarous language and write about
violence, but it's really much more wonderful to write on the
bright side of the moon. I'm just way over the dark side of literature."
Father Tim may be growing and moving on, but some character changes
are unlikely. Karon prefers happy endings. She acknowledges that
her work has been called sentimental, but says happy endings are
as real as the less cheerful kind. "Any ending is about timing,"
the novelist says. "It all depends on where you stop the
clock. We stop the clock at a happy place."
