What Blooms From Dust by James Markert
HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson June 2018
borrowed from the library
Just as Jeremiah Goodbye is set to meet his fate in the electric chair, a tornado tears down the prison walls, and he is given a second chance at life. With the flip of a coin, he decides to return to his home town of Nowhere, Oklahoma, to settle the score with his twin brother Josiah. But upon his escape, he enters a world he doesn’t recognize—one that has been overtaken by the Dust Bowl. And the gift he once relied on to guide him is as unrecognizable as the path back to Nowhere.
After one jolt in Old Sparky, Jeremiah sees things more clearly and begins to question the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murders he was accused of. On his journey home, he accidentally rescues a young boy who follows him the rest of the way, and the pair arrive at their destination where they are greeted by fearful townspeople. When the Black Sunday storm hits the very next day, the residents of Nowhere finally begin to let the past few years of hardship bury them under the weight of all that dust.
Unlikely heroes, Jeremiah and his new companion, Peter Cotton, try to protect the townspeople from themselves, but Jeremiah must face his nightmares and free himself from the guilt of flipping the coin on those men who died.
Filled with mystery and magic, What Blooms from Dust is the story of finding hope in the midst of darkness and discovering the beauty of unexpected kindness.
I had seen this novel a few places online but it really caught my eye at the library and even though I had a zillion other books that I "was supposed to review" this won. What Blooms From Dust is such a wonderful story - a bit of magic, a lot of sadness but so much goodness that proves it is okay to hope for something for better. The synopsis here is a long one and it is really hard to explain the nuance of the book without writing another synopsis, so go read that description.
Jeremiah the Coin Flip Killer is not all he is cracked up to be - turns out he is not a killer at all and as luck would have it instead of being executed a tornado rips through and saves his life. He recklessly returns home, manages to not get shot (well, not get killed..), and finds himself a boy and they rescue each other. They each end up rescuing an entire town, one that was once Majestic but is now Nowhere. What a fantastic setting the dusty town is, so reclusive yet so dependent on each other to survive. Is it possible for roses to bloom from mere dust? Well of course this story says it is possible. Go ahead and read this and I dare you to not shed a tear for all of humanity.
Favorite part in the book "Kindness had made roses bloom from dust."
A definite gem, so glad this one jumped into my hands while I was waiting on my dawdling boy to finish wasting my time! I am looking forward to reading more of James Markert's wonderful writings. OH and the cover art was perfect, I loved it enough that it made me want to read it, well done!
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