In storytelling, the divide between the good guys and bad guys is mostly crystal clear, but in real life, that demarcation fuzzes. Sometimes friends and family members—an apostate aunt, a gay sibling, an atheist co-worker—get labeled the “bad guys,” yet our own interactions with them tell a different tale. That leaves a lot of us feeling like there’s something wrong with our belief system or with those we care for. Palmer, whose book The Tabernacle Bar ricochets between the miraculous and the morally disturbing, describes a safe zone, a healthy balance between faith and doubt that she’s taken to calling “Benediction Alley.”

Susan Palmer