In Mud Valley Church, the evangelizing wonders of the Church Choir have become both a blessing and a minor headache. The growth in card-carrying membership and church attendance explode overnight. That is the blessing. The headache is the charismatic but unassuming Choirmaster Michael, whose artistic gifts are key to the phenomenal church growth. However, as the women with available daughters fight to outdo one another in monthly dinners for the Choirmaster, things become a little worldly. But even after Pastor David seals the marriage between Michael and one Eva Joseph with the urgency of Samuel the prophet, Choirmaster Michael's outreach ministry becomes a bother to the Church Board, when the Treasurer reveals that the Choir is funding most of Mud Valley Church's budgetary needs. The Choirmaster has grown bigger than life, and the Church Board is left wondering, "What would happen should the Choirmaster leave?" When Choirmaster Michael's marriage to Eva would hit rock bottom because one Jane Caleb would not let him be, Pastor David discovers that Mud Valley's spiritual and moral problems are more organic and deeply ingrained historically than the perceived threat from Choirmaster Michael. Young Pastor David faces a historical moral issue, and he must decide whether to confront Mud Valley's historical demons or seek a transfer to clearer spiritual waters.
About the Author: Dr. Joseph R. Alila was born in Ndhiwa Kenya. A Chemist by training, he considers creative writing to be a natural consequence of the aging process. Alila has written extensively on his Luo people's marriages and other cultural practices, criticizing where criticism is due, and holding up a sage's torch on old Luo traditions. J. R. Alila's caution against the practices of polygamy and widow inheritance in the era of the AIDS virus comes in the novels, "Sunset on Polygamy" and "The Thirteenth Widow." J. R. Alila has written extensively on pride, bigotry and prejudice in the spiritual novels, "The Milayi Curse" and "Sins of Our Hearts." In his writings, J. R. Alila treats each of his characters as "the total person." Such works as "Birthright (A Luo Tragedy)," "Whisper to My Aching Heart," "Sunset on Polygamy," "Not on my Skin," and "The Luo Dreamers' Odyssey: From the Sudan to American Power," and "Maya" are informative anthropological treatises on people and their physical, spiritual, political, cultural, and social circumstances. Finally, in the novels, "Not on My Skin" and "Maya," J. R. Alila describes the American experience, consciousness, and attitudes at street level, inside houses of worship, and at the work place. "THE CHOIRMASTER (A Spiritual Tragedy)" is Joseph R. Alila's ninth novel.