Beyond Absolution

Residing in rural southern Oklahoma, it has only been within the last seven years that Thomas Kidwell has come to fully express his passion for writing. In his novel, Beyond Absolution, he writes about the disassociation with God that is experienced by a young man in the early 1820's when the young man loses his wife and daughters to an epidemic of cholera. Those people reading this book who know Thomas Kidwell, as I do, will recognize that he is expressing depths of grief that can only be expressed by someone who has experienced that grief firsthand. The personal tragedy that fell upon the leading character's life is a tragedy that has affected most everyone at one time or another, and it's a tragedy that is vividly familiar to Thomas. As the book so eloquently illustrates, God can sustain us during these difficult times-unless we choose to turn away from him. The hero in Beyond Absolution finds that his journey away from God is leading him nowhere. Can he redeem himself in the eyes of God? Can he find the peace and companionship that he so desperately craves? Beyond Absolution is truly a fascinating read with a powerful message -Dr. H. Norman Stillwell