Review of Testimony: The Collection, by Stephen Delin

When I read this book, titled Testimony: The Collection, and written by another new and talented author, Stephen Delin, I didn’t know if I had to laugh or cry. During this reading, I have sometimes giggled, but not because that was a bad or uninteresting book, but because it is the contrary. The book I just reviewed is a small masterpiece of writing and creativity, and, above all, a funny collection of five tales focused on the close relationship between religion and the stories of people.

In the book, users may read five titles: Lost and Found, In The Face of Tragedy, So Blessed, Lost and Found Part Two and Did All They Could. The first tale is the history of Monica’s life, a woman with two children ( a son and a daughter), who is about to make a new path of living after she was left by his partner and father of her children. The second story speaks about a guy who suffered a car accident and lying in the hospital in a comatose state.

His mother, Rebecca, cares him everyday while she is facing his girlfriend Emily, who prefers to hang out with another boy, Jeremy, instead than to care Adam. The third tale, So Blessed, is the story of a brave business woman who, while she is setting up a new firm, endures the theft for her laptop. At last, she finds out the guilty, who is only a teenager and thanks to faith in God, she chooses to forgive him.

The fourth story, Lost and Found, Part two, resumes from the new life of Monica, who, after having understood to be very lucky to have a good and paid work to grow up her children, meets another man ready to make her happy. The fifth story is the one I liked more. In this tale, there are two characters, Walter and Trina, a husband and a wife. Walter betrayed Trina with a sexy and very uninhibited colleague, Sheretta, an explosive woman who loves to have unrestrained sex with Walter, who, in turn, is the classic husband who don’t manage to have good sex with his wife, anymore.

However, Walter makes a big mistake: to have sex with Sheretta in the same house where he lives with his wife Trina. A day, Trina is about to discover her husband in bed with his lover. Luckily, Sheretta manages to flee the house, and the nearly naked Walter gets to the kitchen with Trina, who asks why he is naked in the room. After assuring himself that Trina forgot this incident, Walter invites her to dinner at the restaurant, but in that place, in front of other people, Trina vents against her husband, by revealing that she knows about the Walter betrayal.

The scene gets really tragicomic, with Walter embarrassed and paled by the outbursts of Trina and who is trying to invent a reasonable excuse to minimize his adultery. All the five stories share the relation between the human love and the love of God. The characters of this book, in fact, have the habitude to go to church on Sunday and listen to words pronounced by the pastor about faith, forgiveness, adultery and living according to the principles of the Lord.

This is the first book that managed to put together sex, tragedy, betrayal and religion, in an outlook based on the weakness of human beings and the wrong and destructive search of pleasure. During this twisted search, people tend to forget to thank God for their success.

In this book, the characters wonder also if it is right to frequent the Church and Religion despite their sins or failures. The end of the book, by showing the final conclusion of these love stories, manages also to make clear the doubts of the characters about religion and love of God. Testimony The Collection was published No Brakes Publishing in collaboration with Ugez Novels.

Rosalba Mancuso

Rosalba Mancuso is the journalist, born in Sicily, who founded four websites in English. On Advicesbooks Book Reviews, Rosalba shows her great passion for books, helping readers and book lovers choose and buy the best books she read and reviewed. She also worked as a contributor for printed publications and online magazines and as a bilingual Italian-English writer. Here, Rosalba also offers room to authors and publishers who want to get their books reviewed through the voice of an avid reader like her. You must also know that this book review site lives thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you buy books through the affiliate links you find in her book reviews. This website is also funded by services of press releases and book reviews.