When a "crack" forms in life, whether through drug abuse, illness or a broken marriage, Mosteller believes that an inner light often shines through, birthing new life and hope. In each of the heartrending stories she recounts in this collection, the literary executor for spiritual writer Henri Nouwen plunges readers into the dark cracks of individual lives, showing how each was restored. Mosteller, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, drew these stories from her network of relationships in the international L'Arche community for developmentally disabled people, often disguising names and places. Several are of the two-hanky variety, including those about a couple who decide, against the advice of their doctor, to bear a child they are told will die within 15 minutes of its birth, and a man whose life is riddled with fear from having grown up under apartheid in South Africa. To each narrative, crafted from lengthy interviews with the subjects, Mosteller adds parallels with her own life and that of her family and its fissures. Readers who have enjoyed Nouwen's books and his writings about life at L'Arche will feel a strong connection to this volume not only because of the content and occasional mentions of Nouwen, but because of Mosteller's easy way of relating people's stories. "(June 20)" Copyright 2006 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.
