The Easter People

Ian W. Toal is a nurse in Barrie, Ontario.

This generally inspirational book is about how tragedy can lead to
spiritual faith. The facts of the story are fairly basic. Tim and Marcia
are married in 1988. A year later, Tim is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s
disease and undergoes treatment. After the treatment is finished, their
life returns to normal, and Marcia becomes pregnant. This joyful time is
short-lived. Marcia develops cancer that requires surgery and the
premature delivery of the baby, Timothy. In spite of aggressive
treatment and intense faith, Marcia dies from the cancer, and baby
Timothy, born at 28 weeks, dies a day later.

The book centres on the response of these people to their fate. Marcia,
who has always been afraid of absolute faith in God, discovers it
through her illness. Her husband Tim finds his faith strengthened by his
ordeal, believing that God “knows what he is doing in our lives, even
when apparent tragedies strike us.”

The book’s structure—a series of letters that jump from person to
person and time to time—is confusing, and the faith of the
protagonists, although genuine, is heavily dependent on miracles.