Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to The Mustard Seed blog!

This blog is dedicated to exploring the ideas and concepts behind my first novel, The Mustard Seed: A Story of Life and Faith, which will be published in mid-2009.

I am your host, and humble author, Todd White.

I can summarize The Mustard Seed this way: Catcher in the Rye meets Atlas Shrugged. Basically, it’s a coming-of-age story, a love story, and a story about ideas – the big, overarching ideas about love and faith, truth and morality – and how those ideas shape our lives and control our destiny.

The protagonist is Brian Raines - a smart, decent young man who has just graduated from college, and is having trouble surviving in the “Real World.” As he adjusts to his first job in a strange city, Brian struggles with his identity, and struggles even more to understand what it means to live a “good life.” Like that other embodiment of youthful angst, Holden Caulfield, Brian wins the hearts of readers with his refreshing honesty, deep insecurities, and durable optimism.

At the start of the book, Brian meets two other recent college grads, striking friendships with both of them. Those friendships set the tone for his spiritual journey. The first one is with his new roommate, Mark Williams, who is a kind-hearted, deeply-committed Christian. The second is his new co-worker, Troy Dawkins, who is a brilliant and charming nihilist. Later in the book, Brian meets a beautiful and extraordinary young woman named Heather Manning. After some early mishaps, Brian and Heather start dating, and Heather demonstrates her own life philosophy, which she calls “spiritual rationalism.” As events unfold, each person goes through a spiritual and intellectual journey (although not all of them will survive that journey).

Overall, The Mustard Seed is a gripping, emotionally-riveting novel about some of the most important issues that any human being can face. In light of the recent success of books like The Da Vinci Code, and even TV shows like Lost, there is certainly a public hunger for “big ideas” in entertainment– so long as those ideas are combined with strong characters and fast-paced action.

On all of these fronts, The Mustard Seed overwhelmingly delivers for a waiting American public.