This is the 4th book in Mario Kiefer’s Ordinary series.  I have read all four of them and loved each and every one of them.  I love them so much that I highlight segments and use Post-It tabs throughout.  All four are about various people in a large migrant family that covers a couple of generations and decades.  As in all of his books, Kiefer immediately pulls the reader inside the story so that the reader becomes an actual watcher of the events as they unwind.  The depth and thought-provoking nature of his writing never cease to amaze me.  

The Ordinary Sin focuses on one of the granddaughters, Sara, the youngest of three sisters.  Ten years earlier, when Sara told her Mother she was gay, her Mom responded by throwing her out of the house without allowing her to even go back into her room.  She left with nothing. But Sara has returned because neither of her sisters can be bothered; one is too wealthy and spoiled to lower herself and the other is too codependent on her husband.  While cleaning and preparing the house for her Mother’s return, Sara finds her Mother’s diary and the answers to so much of what Sarah never understood about her overly religious Mom.

I cannot emphasize enough how beautifully written this book and the others in the series are, how deep into the psyche Kiefer travels and the spiritual hope and unconditional love these authentic stories reveal.  I believe that his writing is certainly on the level of a Pulitzer Prize and has the potential to become classic literature. Having said that I need to make it clear that any of these books work as a stand-alone read but seriously, why would you only read one?