When Jesus Came to the Cracker Barrel

“This collection of short stories, each more truly something between a short story and a parable,


offers mouth-sized doses of needed medicine. Each of these short stories strikes a different note, together forming a resounding, transformative chord worthy of filling a cathedral. The book in your hands is a gift, a thing for which to be ardently grateful, for within it you will find resonance, inspiration, charge, and challenge.”


—Michael J. DeValve, author of A Different Justice





“There is fiction, and there is real-life fiction, and that second distinction is what makes Braswell’s stories so compelling to read. He is a master at bringing his characters to the reader’s eye in all their moments of upheaval, human frailty, spiritual insight, and unexpected kindness. His characters and themes become clear from the onset of his stories to the conclusions, because we have experienced these people and situations in our lives, but have often not noticed them until Michael Braswell’s craft brought them from obscurity into the light.”


—Ralph Bland, author of Lockhart





“Michael Braswell’s collection of stories edifies and transports the soul to the crossroad where grace and mercy meet.”


—Anthony Cavender, author of Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia