Presented to: Toni Sorensen Brown
For: Redemption Road
The question �How can a loving, all-powerful God let innocent people suffer?� is a familiar one these days, one that too often comes with the implication that because suffering exists, God must either be uncaring or nonexistent. In her novel Redemption Road, Toni Sorensen Brown uses this question not as a refutation of God�s existence, but as a springboard for an exploration of how faith can operate in a fallen, corrupt world. Set against the backdrop of modern Nairobi, the story tells of Lana, a young woman disaffected with the LDS Church who has tried to get as far away from her Utah Mormon roots as she can. Having traveled halfway around the world, she still finds herself caught up in the same questions about life that drove her away in the first place. Lana�s affection for the people she meets, especially the young orphan boy Jomo, entangle her in a world of illness, suffering, indifference, and death�-a world that seems designed to make people question the existence of God. Yet it is this world that brings Lana to an understanding of her own relationship with God that, for her, would have been impossible to find anywhere else. Brown tells this story with a straightforward honesty that allows the reader to explore the contradictions that lie in the heart of gospel life�faith versus hopelessness, privilege versus poverty, cruelty versus love. The Association for Mormon Letters is proud to present the 2006 Award in the Novel to Redemption Road.