Books by Lisa Tawn Bergren

The Bridge  by Lisa Tawn Bergren

This wonderful story is actually two stories, one in present time and the other in flashback. It pertains to an accident on the bridge over Swan River in Montana which resulted in a fatality.

As Bergren deftly weaves her story, I was drawn in so that it was hard to put the book down. She presented the story of Anna, the woman involved in the accident, in italics, which indicated each flashback, while the story of the man returning to his uncle’s cabin was in regular print, indicating the present day story. They were slowly woven together to give the reader both background and plot.

Jared Conway, divorced father of an eight-year-old boy, took his son to his uncle’s old cabin so he could clean it up and sell it, but he did not count on the quirky people he would meet there. Nor did he count on the peace and comfort the cabin and its surroundings would provide for him and his son during the summer. As we meet the characters, we are slowly taken in by them, as the story goes back and forth between present day and the 40-year-old incident.

The surprise ending will leave the reader with an “aha” moment when the reader fits everything together, as the two stories converge.

This book was a wonderful page-turner, and I recommend it highly for someone who enjoys the combination of a light mystery and a sweet love story. I borrowed this book from our church library and read it upon the recommendation of the librarian. She was right. I couldn't put it down.

Mercy Come Morning by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Krista is a 38-year-old history professsor in a college in Colorado, but she has never forgotten her lost childhood. She grew up with an absent father and a mother who treated her indifferently. When her mother is near death in Taos, New Mexico, she reluctantly goes to be with her. Her mother never regains consciousness, but Krista battles with memories from her past. A close friend of her mother who has always befriended her helps her to see her mother in a different way as she grows closer and closer to death from Alzheimers.When Krista finds diaries and letters and reads them, she comes to understand her mother better and is able to clear her mind of some of the things that beset her for so long.

The imagery in this book is tremendous. Bergen's description of the countryside is colorful and alive. As Krista remembers things, she also remembers historic events, so the reader gets a history lesson as well as an enjoyable story. Krista also remembers Christmases through her life. This book's first title was Christmas Come Morning.

I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah for my honest review.

God Gave us the World by Lisa Tawn Bergren, art by Laura J.Bryant

Lisa Bergren has written a beautiful story for young children with her book, God Gave Us the World. Full-page artwork by Laura Bryant is colorful and appealing.

Mama Bear, who makes her home at the North Pole, is taking her cubs on a trip to see a special exhibit: Bears Around the World. As she explains to her cubs the different kinds of bears, the artwork depicts the landscape where each kind lives. She impresses upon her little ones the vastness of the world, the uniqueness of each kind of bear, and their similarities and differences. Of course, the cubs are thrilled to learn this, because all they know is the part of the world in which they live. Since they are polar bears, they don’t know about panda bears in China, sloth bears in India, or grizzly bears in America.

Mama Bear explains that while their family lives in the cold, snowy North, some bears live in the rain forest, and others live in the desert. Every bear has a special place in God’s world, a place where they are suited to live.

It is easy to see that the story of the bears relates to the children who listen as this story is read to them. People, too, live in many different places. Mama Bear shows her cubs that God gave us the world and everything in it, and that God chose the place where each one would live. She impresses on them a need to protect their environment, just as the children should do.

This delightful book will be read again and again as children drink in the beauty of the artwork and come to realize that God made the world for them, too.

I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah for my honest review.