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Available online and at your independent bookstoreHIS FUTURE WAS "OUT THERE" - COULD HE BREAK FREE?
It is the summer of 1965, and Nick Baarda is facing his final year of high school in New Holland, Iowa, where a sect called the True Church is so strict that it has added four commandments to the original ten. The add-ons prohibit “worldly amusements” like movies and popular music. Hoping to break free of these constraints and enjoy modern life, Nick and his best friends devise a fifteenth commandment, one that allows them to live as if the others need not apply to them. This sets in motion an extended battle with their new minister, who maneuvers to keep the boys firmly under his thumb. Complicating things is the pastor’s daughter, who gladly becomes Nick’s intellectual soulmate while not reciprocating his romantic overtures. The result for Nick is a roller coaster of infatuation and frustration, while he and the other boys share raucous adventures and deal with sex, conflict, and calamity. Through it all, Nick wrestles with the hypocrisy he sees in his religion, and eventually he is forced to make a life-changing decision. Steve Sieberson’s debut novel takes a deep dive into Red State, Evangelical America in the Sixties. Firmly anchored in a Dutch Calvinist farming community, the book explores the role of strict religion and conservative attitudes in a rapidly changing society, and how young people find themselves torn between the world of their heritage and the lure of a very different future. The Fifteenth Commandment will appeal to anyone who came of age in the Sixties, and to their children and grandchildren who have heard so much about that era. It will also resonate with anyone who at some point in their life has struggled with the strictures of their society. That said, this is a highly entertaining story with colorful characters, vivid settings, and lively humor. It will delight the reader who appreciates good storytelling. * * * * * * * * * * Reviewers' Praise for The Fifteenth Commandment “Few people can write both honestly and vividly about their home scene and its history. I know the world that Steve Sieberson portrays in The Fifteenth Commandment. His writing is astonishingly accurate and vivid. Both insiders and outsiders will take pleasure in this richly revealing account of us Dutch Calvinists in Northwest Iowa.” --Jim Heynen, award-winning writer of poems, novels, nonfiction, and short fiction “The Fifteenth Commandment is an insightful, alluring narrative—the kind of book you read in only two or three sittings. Sieberson’s voice is both artful and honest, and his characters, as they slowly reveal themselves, show us what it means to be alive in our world. A propitious debut novel.” --David Philip Mullins, author of The Brightest Place in the World “The Fifteenth Commandment portrays youthful rebellion, awakening sexuality, and the characters' growing awareness of their mortality, as well as how communities can create and then alienate some of the best and the brightest of the next generation. This coming-of-age novel is full of adventures and pranks, but it is also keenly aware of the cost of staying or leaving.” --James Vanden Bosch, Emeritus Professor of English at Calvin University * * * * * * * * * * Readers Comment [please send yours via the Contact page] "The Fifteenth Commandment is one of the best books I’ve read in years. In fact, the evening after the day I finished reading it, I sat down and reread it." - J.O. “Sitting in a beach chair on the shores of Kaanapali, Maui is a perfect place to finish your book. Got to say, I'm impressed! Haiku, lyrics to songs, and a complicated love story, plus the overlay of a strict religion. You did a masterful job. Can't wait for the sequel!” – P.E. "As an 80-something living on a Minnesota farm, I tend to browse past the youthful-coming-of-age section in bookstores. However, the intriguing, all-caps title (THE FIFTEENTH COMMANDMENT) and the rock climber on the cover caught my eye. I bought the book and read the story of young Nick Baarda, whose youthful experiences mimicked my own (albeit in Iowa, but still...). Sieberson’s story of girls, buddies, basketball and the smothering effects of small-town religion took me back, yet explained much of my present. In the future I may pay more attention as I browse through the “young readers” section of our prairie bookstore. Please write another, Mr. Sieberson." - A.E. “More laughs than Dante’s Inferno” – E.R. “I was really impressed with the occasional bits of British English that garnished Gloria’s letters to her friend. Not overdone, but created a convincing and distinct tone for the missionary kid. I also appreciated the small but telling details throughout, keenly observed, like – not the can or the coffee can with night crawlers, but the Folgers coffee can. And I liked how Nick’s world slowly expanded, as illustrated by forays away from New Holland and then the flight over the area and the perspective from the air. The ending was not what I anticipated, but it was more effective as it played out.” – L.R. “Steve, I read your book over the weekend and loved it. I gave to a mentor/friend to read after we were talking about the importance of education and how that ties in with a higher purpose. We also happen to be in a consistory of sorts (which we call the core 4) so there were a lot of interesting pieces of the story that I thought were relevant in our lives. When you get in town, I'd be curious to hear more about the book, and how the fictionalized version of the book compares to the true "Nick" story.” – K.T. “I just finished The Fifteenth Commandment. It had me in both stitches and tears. Very well done.” – M.S. “This Mark Twain-like story has a Tom Sawyer character wanting to escape Hannibal, Missouri (New Holland, Iowa). In The Fifteenth Commandment the ‘Consistory’ are teenage boys who serve as confidants, partial role models, and friends of the main character, Nick Baarda. Of course, there is a female love interest (like Tom’s Becky Thatcher) but without a Hallmark ending. The Fifteenth Commandment is literature that helps readers experience the story – the senses, memory, imagination, emotions, and intellect are all engaged. The book has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and ultimately a purpose for what happens to us in life.” – M. B. “It kept me reading. The ending a surprise, but not totally unexpected. My husband found it sad; I found it hopeful.” – R.B. “I wanted to let you know that I read and enjoyed The Fifteenth Commandment. “The Consistory” was a nice touch and the details rang true for me. The overall arc, that most fall in line and that few escape, certainly rang true. I had just written one of my brothers a Christmas letter reminiscing about the outsized importance of the 7th commandment in our church and why that was, since Jesus talked so little about sex." - H.V. Subject line: Your novel doesn't suck. "Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed it. You managed to make teenage characters something more than stick figures, without the usual cliches. I didn't see the ending coming. Well done." - P.B.A |