In her poignant memoir The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray, Lindsey Crittenden explores the evolution of her prayer life as a relationship with God. Depicting a lifetime of love, discovery and pain, Crittenden writes in an organic stream of vignettes in which the details are far less important than the sentiment associated with the events described. Crittenden’s language aches with an authenticity that is beautiful and raw as she paints a portrait of her journey with God from infatuation, to passion, to commitment, to crisis, to comfortable. Though Crittenden’s views about the nature of prayer are powerful, it is her sentiment so genuine and real that the reader feels like a voyeur peeking into a window of her soul that makes this book such a treasure. The Water Will Hold You is not necessarily for those who already understand the importance and power of prayer, but instead perhaps for the world’s cynics those who are not sure if they want to believe and those who do not yet know what they believe.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
