LibGuides: Christy Awards: First Novel (2001-)

The Christy Awards

First Novel (2001- )

2020-2029

WINNER: A Long Time Comin' by Robin W. Pearson

A Long Time Comin' [Large print] by Robin W. Pearson
Call Number: FIC PEARS ROBW LO Large (Large print collection)
ISBN: 9781643584942
Publication Date: 2020-02-01
To hear Beatrice Agnew tell it, she entered the world with her mouth tightly shut. Just because she finds out she's dying doesn't mean she can't keep it that way. If any of her children have questions about their daddy and the choices she made after he abandoned them, they'd best take it up with Jesus. There's no room in Granny B's house for regrets or hand-holding. Or so she thinks. Her granddaughter, Evelyn Lester, shows up on Beatrice's doorstep anyway, burdened with her own secret baggage. Determined to help her Granny B mend fences with her far-flung brood, Evelyn turns her grandmother's heart and home inside out. Evelyn's meddling uncovers a tucked-away box of old letters, forcing the two women to wrestle with their past and present pain as they confront the truth Beatrice has worked a lifetime to hide.

FINALISTS:

The Means That Make Us Strangers by Christine Kindberg
Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes

The Means That Make Us Strangers by Kindberg, Christine
Call Number: YA F KIN-C (Young adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781797761350
Publication Date: 2019-07-10
After fourteen years in rural Ethiopia, 1964 finds sixteen-year-old Adelaide and her family moving back to Greenville, South Carolina, where Adelaide finds friendships, thoughts of her own future as well as larger social issues add to life's complexity.
Whose Waves These Are by Dykes, Amanda
Call Number: FIC DYKES AMA WH (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780764234132
Publication Date: 2019-04-01
In the wake of WWII, a grieving fisherman submits a poem to a local newspaper: a rallying cry for hope, purpose . . . and rocks. Its message? Send me a rock for the person you lost, and I will build something life-giving. When the poem spreads farther than he ever intended, Robert Bliss's humble words change the tide of a nation. Boxes of rocks inundate the tiny, coastal Maine town, and he sets his calloused hands to work. Decades later, Annie Sawyer is summoned back to Ansel-by-the-Sea when she learns her Great-Uncle Robert, the man who became her refuge during the hardest summer of her youth, is now the one in need of help. But what greets her is a mystery: a wall of heavy boxes hiding in his home. Memories of stone ruins on a nearby island ignite a fire in her anthropologist soul to uncover answers. Together with the handsome and enigmatic postman, Annie uncovers the story layer by layer, yearning to resurrect the hope GrandBob once held so dear and to know the truth behind the chasm in her family's past. But mending what has been broken for so long may require more of her and those she loves than they are prepared to give.

WINNER: The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox

Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox
Call Number: FIC COX AMA ED (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780800739188
Publication Date: 2020-09-08
When Ivy Rose returns to her hometown to oversee an estate sale, she discovers her grandmother left behind more than trinkets and photo frames. She provided a path to the truth behind Ivy's adoption-- but a key piece to the mystery is missing. Twenty-four years earlier, Harvey James finds an abandoned newborn who gives him a sense of human connection for the first time in his life. His desire to care for the baby runs up against the stark fact that he is homeless. As he becomes entwined with two people seeking to help him find his way, Harvey knows he must keep the baby a secret or risk losing the only person he's ever loved.

FINALISTS

A Noble Calling by Rhona Weaver
Rain by Dana McNeely
Roots of Wood and Stone by Amanda Wen

A Noble Calling by Rhona Weaver
Call Number: FIC WEAVE RHO NO (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781734750003
Publication Date: 2020-08-18
A Southern farm boy who loves God and family, college football and America, rookie FBI agent Win Tyler lives in pursuit of making the world a better place. But when he becomes embroiled in a major political corruption case on the East Coast that takes a bad turn, he is exiled by the Bureau to a do-nothing post in Yellowstone National Park. Dejected by the demotion, and with his heart heavy from the sting of a bad breakup, Win arrives in Yellowstone deeply conflicted as to his true calling in life.
Rain by Dana McNeely
Call Number: FIC MNEEL DAN RA (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781943959921
Publication Date: 2021-02-20
He is destined to be high priest--but at what cost to those he loves? In ancient Samaria, Aban anticipates his rites of passage with excitement and dread. He yearns to join the priesthood of Ba'al Melqart, unlock the power of the rain god, and hear the deity's voice. He's been warned the licentious ceremony can take a dangerous turn, but as eldest son of the high priestess, he holds a privileged position. If he can make it through the ceremony, one day he'll rise to high priest.
Roots of Wood and Stone by Amanda Wen
Call Number: FIC WEN AMA RO (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780825446689
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
Abandoned at birth, her own origins a mystery, historical museum curator Sloane Kelley has dedicated her life to preserving Wichita's past. When a donor drops off a dusty old satchel, she doesn't expect much from the common artifact...but the 19th-century diary she finds inside definitely piques her interest. Garrett Anderson is eager to clean out his grandmother's historic but tumbledown farmhouse before selling it to fund her medical care. In the face of her advancing Alzheimer's, he can't afford to be sentimental about the old family home. But his carefully-ordered plan runs up against two formidable obstacles: Sloane, who's fallen in love with both the diaries and the house, and his own heart, which is irresistibly drawn to Sloane. A century and a half earlier, Annabelle Collins's widowed father leaves her in the care of her aunt and uncle to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: settling the prairies of Sedgwick County, Kansas. The diaries she left behind paint a portrait of life, loss, and love-and a God who faithfully carries her through it all. Paging through the diaries together takes Sloane and Garrett on a journey they never could have planned for...a journey that will change them both in ways they never imagined.

WINNER: All That is Secret by Patricia Raybon

All That Is Secret (Annalee Spain #1) by Patricia Raybon
Call Number: FIC RAYBO PAT S1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781496458377
Publication Date: 2021-10-05
In the winter of 1923, Professor Annalee Spain--a daring but overworked theologian at a small Chicago Bible college--receives a cryptic telegram calling her home to Denver to solve the mystery of the murder of her beloved but estranged father. For a young Black woman, searching for answers in a city ruled by the KKK could mean real danger. Still, with her literary hero Sherlock Holmes as inspiration, Annalee launches her hunt for clues, attracting two surprising allies: Eddie, a relentless young white boy searching for his missing father, and Jack, a handsome Black pastor who loves nightclub dancing and rides in his sporty car, awakening Annalee's heart to the surprising highs and lows of romantic love. With their help, Annalee follows clues that land her among Denver's powerful elite. But when their sleuthing unravels sinister motives and deep secrets, Annalee confronts the dangerous truths and beliefs that could make her a victim too.

FINALISTS:

Recorder by Cathy McCrumb
Sugar Birds by Cheryl Grey Bostrom

Recorder (Children of the consortium #1) by Cathy McCrumb
Call Number: FIC MCRUM CAT C1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781621841999
Publication Date: 2021-11-09
Recorder has no family, no friends, and no name. Donated to the Consortium before birth, her sole purpose is to maintain and verify the records. A neural implant and drone ensure compliance, punishing for displays of bias. Suddenly cut off from controlling technology, Recorder tastes what it means to be human. But if the Consortium discovers her feelings, everyone she knows will be in danger. With no name, no resources, and only an infinitesimal possibility of escape, Recorder's time is running out.
Sugar Birds by Cheryl Grey Bostrom
Call Number: FIC BOSTR CHEG SU (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781647420680
Publication Date: 2021-08-03
For years, Harris Hayes has taught his daughter, Aggie, the ways of the northern woods. So when her mother's depression worsens, Harris shows the girl how to find and sketch the nests of wild birds as an antidote to sadness. Aggie is in a tree far overhead when her unpredictable mother spots her and forbids her to climb. Angry, the ten-year-old accidentally lights a tragic fire, then flees downriver. She lands her boat near untamed forest, where she hides among the trees and creatures she considers her only friends -- determined to remain undiscovered. A search party gathers by Aggie's empty boat hours after Celia, fresh off the plane from Houston, arrives at her grandmother's nearby farm. Hurting from her parents' breakup, she also plans to run. But when she joins the hunt for Aggie, she meets two irresistible young men who compel her to stay. One is autistic; the other, dangerous.

WINNERS

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold
The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon by Linda MacKillop

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold
Call Number: FIC BRUNS SAR EX
ISBN: 9780800741587
Publication Date: 2022-07-01
Frustrated reporter Aidyn Kelley begrudgingly agrees to help a hospice patient prepare her obituary. But old Clara Kip has some incredible stories-and some surprises up her sleeve that promise to make this seemingly throwaway assignment a life-changing one.
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip [large print] by Sara Brunsvold
Call Number: FIC BRUNS SAR EX LARGE
ISBN: 9798891640245
Publication Date: 2024-02-01

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The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon by Linda MacKillop
Call Number: FIC GORDO LIN FO
ISBN: 9780825447327
Publication Date: 2022-05-17
Failing memory has forced Eva Gordon to move in with her granddaughter, Breezy. But Eva hates the bustle of Boston. All she wants to do is move back to her quiet, cozy Cape Cod home and be left alone. Then Breezy announces she's getting married, and they'll be moving to her new husband's rundown family farm, where he lives with an elderly uncle. They'll be one big family--but only Breezy and her new husband think it'll be a happy one. It's all too much for Eva. Too much change, too much togetherness, too much of an over-crowded life she never wanted. But as her desire for privacy collides with her worsening memory, Eva may find herself in a pickle she can't get out of. Can an unlikely cast of misfit characters step in to woo Eva from her self-imposed isolation?

FINALIST

Porch Music by Kathy Maresca

Porch Music by Kathy Maresca
Call Number: FIC MARES KAT PO
ISBN: 9781956851458
Publication Date: 2022-10-04
All sixteen-year-old Rose has is what she carries: a pillowcase of clothes, her boyfriend's unborn child, and a heart full of shame. In the face of 1952's strict moral code, Seminole matriarch Ma-Ki Ebbing embraces Rose. Ma-Ki, on the fringe of society, clings to her Native American traditions and secrets surrounding her husband's murder while her adult children unravel from social injustice.When Ma-Ki's children were young, Burl Ebbing approached a wealthy, powerful man who had sexually abused his children. The villain shot Burl's heart right out of him. Twenty years later, Ma-Ki fears that her children will avenge their father's death and refuses to disclose the criminal's identity. The Ebbing women band together, marching through a chorus of grit and grind to unite a family once rendered powerless by a people who invaded their land. Will the tragic death of one of her daughters cause Ma-Ki to identify the villain and embrace Rose's newfound faith?

2010-2019

WINNER: Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent

FINALISTS:

The Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry
Scared by Tom Davis

WINNER: Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

FINALISTS:

Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes
A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener

WINNER: Words by Ginny Yttrup

FINALISTS:

An Eye for Glory by Karl Bacon
Southern Fried Sushi by Jennifer Rogers Spinola

WINNER: Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

Into the Free [E-Book] by Julie Cantrell
Call Number: FIC CANTR JUL IN Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780718081256
Publication Date: 2016-06-07
Young Millie Reynolds must confront the past and overcome her family's long history of destructive choices before finding her own path to freedom.

FINALISTS:

Tangled Ashes by Michèle Phoenix
Wedded to War by Jocelyn Green

Heroines Behind the Lines Series, Volumes 1-4: Wedded to War, Widow of Gettysburg, Yankee in Atlanta, and Spy of Richmond by Jocelyn Green
Call Number: FIC GREEN JOC HC1-4 Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780802493408
Publication Date: 2015
The Heroines Behind the Lines Series highlights the crucial contributions made by women during the Civil War.

WINNER: Burning Sky by Lori Benton

FINALISTS:

A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr
Dear Mr. Knightly by Katherine Reay

WINNER: Feast for Thieves by Marcus Brotherton

FINALISTS:

For Such a Time by Kate Breslin
House of Living Stones by Kate Schuermann

For Such a Time [Kindle] by Kate Breslin
Call Number: FIC BRESL KAT FO Kindle (Request at circulation desk)
ISBN: 9780764211607
Publication Date: 2014-04-01
A powerful retelling of the biblical story of Esther set during WWII: Blond and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin must save her people--even if she cannot save herself.

WINNER: The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker

The Choosing [Kindle] by Rachelle Dekker
Call Number: FIC DEKKE RAC S1 Kindle (Request at Circulation Desk)
ISBN: 9781496402257
Publication Date: 2015-05-19
Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she'd spent a lifetime preparing for--her Choosing Ceremony--to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she'll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it's her duty to follow the true way of the Authority. As Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything she's been told, they resonate deep within.
The Choosing [E-Book] by Rachelle Dekker
Call Number: FIC DEKKE RAC S1 Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781496406842
Publication Date: 2015-05-19

FINALISTS:

Irish Meadows by Susan Anne Mason
A Noble Masquerade by Kristi Ann Hunter

Irish Meadows [E-Book] by Susan Anne Mason
Call Number: FIC MASON SUSA IR Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781441228567
Publication Date: 2015-06-30
At Irish Meadows horse farm, sisters Brianna and Colleen struggle to reconcile their own dreams with their father's demanding marriage expectations.
A Noble Masquerade [E-Book] by Kristi Ann Hunter
Call Number: FIC HUNTE KRIA HH1 Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781441228857
Publication Date: 2015-09-01
When Lady Miranda Hawthorne starts to develop affections for two men, she inadvertently uncovers secrets that will put more than her heart at risk.

WINNER: Stars in the Grass by Ann Marie Stewart

FINALISTS:

Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette
Like a River from Its Course by Kelli Stuart

Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette
Call Number: FIC COSSE CON O1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780764214370
Publication Date: 2016-04-05
Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all. To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus. She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she's only just beginning to learn about, and in love with a man who despises her people. With everything she's ever known swept away, will Kiya turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?

WINNER: Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse

Missing Isaac by Luesse, Valerie Fraser
Call Number: FIC LUESS VALF MI (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780800728786
Publication Date: 2018-01-02
It is 1965 when black field hand Isaac Reynolds goes missing from the tiny, unassuming town of Glory, Alabama. The townspeople's reactions range from concern to indifference, but one boy will stop at nothing to find out what happened to his unlikely friend. White, wealthy, and fatherless, young Pete McLean has nothing to gain and everything to lose in his relentless search for Isaac. In the process, he will discover much more than he bargained for. Before it's all over, Pete--and the people he loves most--will have to blur the hard lines of race, class, and religion. And what they discover about themselves may change some of them forever.

FINALISTS:

Freedom's Ring by Heidi Chiavaroli
The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright
Turtles in the Road by Kaley Rhea and Rhonda Rhea

WINNER: The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings

The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings
Call Number: FIC RAWLI DAV B (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780785224938
Publication Date: 2019-03-05
When three people take the wrong suitcase from baggage claim, their lives change forever. A hothead businessman coming to the city for a showdown meeting to save his job. A mother of three hoping to survive the days at her sister's house before her niece's wedding. And a young artist pursuing his father's dream so he can keep his own alive. When David, Gillian, and Michael each take the wrong suitcases from baggage claim, the airline directs them to retrieve their bags at a mysterious facility in a deserted part of the city. There they meet the enigmatic Baggage Handler, who shows them there is more in their baggage than what they have packed, and carrying it with them is slowing them down in ways they can't imagine. And they must deal with it before they can leave. In this modern-day parable about the burdens that weigh us down, David Rawlings issues an inspiring invitation to lighten the load

FINALISTS:

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson
The Plum Blooms in Winter by Linda Thompson

2000-2009

WINNER: Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster

FINALISTS:

Refiner's Fire by Sylvia Bambola
Winter Passing by Cindy McCormick Martinusen

WINNER: Ezekiel's Shadow by David Long

FINALISTS:

Go Down to Silence by Greg Belliveau
Sea of Glory by Ken Wales and David Poling

WINNER: A Place Called Wiregrass by Michael Morris

FINALISTS:

Daughter of China by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
Yucatan Deep by Tom Morrisey

WINNER: Welcome to Fred by Brad Whittington

FINALISTS:

Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston
The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson
Call Number: FIC JACKS NET Y1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781595544391
Publication Date: 2008-02-12
The Yada Yada girls get caught in the lies we all tend to believe about ourselves, God, each other, and life.

WINNER: The Mending String by Cliff Coon

FINALISTS:

The Dead Don't Dance by Charles Martin
There is a Wideness by Mark McAllister

WINNER: This Heavy Silence by Nicole Mazzarella

FINALISTS:

Like a Watered Garden by Patti Hill
The Road Home by Vanessa Del Fabbro

WINNER: Where Mercy Flows by Karen Harter

FINALISTS:

Watching the Tree Limbs by Mary DeMuth
William Henry is a Fine Name by Cathy Gohlke

WINNER: The Stones Cry Out by Sibella Giorello

FINALISTS:

Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet
Demon : a Memoir by Tosca Lee

WINNER: Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake

Blue Hole Back Home [E-Book] by Joy Jordan-Lake
Call Number: FIC JORDA JOY BL Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780692957097
Publication Date: 2017-10-01
In a time when cross burnings and men in white hoods appeared to be a thing of the past, a small town confronts a kind of hate it thought had long since died out… Shelby Lenoir Maynard, nicknamed Turtle, has never much trusted girls her own age, spending her days instead with her brother and his pack of friends. But when a mysterious Sri Lankan girl of Moorish descent moves to town, Turtle invites her to their secret haven: the Blue Hole. Turtle could not have imagined how much that simple gesture would alter the rest of her life, or the lives of those she loves. As tensions rise, it becomes clear there are those in Pisgah Ridge who reject the presence of anyone different—and those who would welcome the new refugee family. In just one summer—in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty and a muddy swimming hole—everything changes.

FINALISTS:

Rain Song by Alice J. Wisler
Safe at Home by Richard Doster

Christy Awards

2020-2029

WINNER: A Long Time Comin' by Robin W. Pearson

FINALISTS:

The Means That Make Us Strangers by Christine Kindberg

Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes

WINNER: The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox

FINALISTS

A Noble Calling by Rhona Weaver

Rain by Dana McNeely

Roots of Wood and Stone by Amanda Wen

WINNER: All That is Secret by Patricia Raybon

FINALISTS:

Recorder by Cathy McCrumb

Sugar Birds by Cheryl Grey Bostrom

WINNERS

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold

The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon by Linda MacKillop

FINALIST

Porch Music by Kathy Maresca

2010-2019

WINNER: Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent

FINALISTS:

The Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry

Scared by Tom Davis

WINNER: Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

FINALISTS:

Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes

A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener

WINNER: Words by Ginny Yttrup

FINALISTS:

An Eye for Glory by Karl Bacon

Southern Fried Sushi by Jennifer Rogers Spinola

WINNER: Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

FINALISTS:

Tangled Ashes by Michèle Phoenix

Wedded to War by Jocelyn Green

WINNER: Burning Sky by Lori Benton

FINALISTS:

A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr

Dear Mr. Knightly by Katherine Reay

WINNER: Feast for Thieves by Marcus Brotherton

FINALISTS:

For Such a Time by Kate Breslin

House of Living Stones by Kate Schuermann

WINNER: The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker

FINALISTS:

Irish Meadows by Susan Anne Mason

A Noble Masquerade by Kristi Ann Hunter

WINNER: Stars in the Grass by Ann Marie Stewart

FINALISTS:

Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette

Like a River from Its Course by Kelli Stuart

WINNER: Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse

FINALISTS:

Freedom's Ring by Heidi Chiavaroli

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

Turtles in the Road by Kaley Rhea and Rhonda Rhea

WINNER: The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings

FINALISTS:

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

The Plum Blooms in Winter by Linda Thompson

2000-2009

WINNER: Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster

FINALISTS:

Refiner's Fire by Sylvia Bambola

Winter Passing by Cindy McCormick Martinusen

WINNER: Ezekiel's Shadow by David Long

FINALISTS:

Go Down to Silence by Greg Belliveau

Sea of Glory by Ken Wales and David Poling

WINNER: A Place Called Wiregrass by Michael Morris

FINALISTS:

Daughter of China by C. Hope Flinchbaugh

Yucatan Deep by Tom Morrisey

WINNER: Welcome to Fred by Brad Whittington

FINALISTS:

Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson

WINNER: The Mending String by Cliff Coon