The Secret Life of a Fool
Andrew Palau is the son of a world-famous evangelist. I’m the granddaughter of a Methodist local preacher. There’s not much comparison except we must have both grown up around people who talked about God. I reviewed Andrew Palau’s memoir, The Secret Life of a Fool , yesterday, and today, as part of his virtual book tour , I promised to think about what kind of fool being a preacher’s grandkid made me. My granddad began preaching during the Second World War when there was a shortage of people to work in the church since all the young men had gone away. But Granddad was Methodist and I grew up Catholic, so I’m not sure I ever heard him preach. With a Catholic father and Methodist mother, my faith was never something I could take for granted. I couldn’t answer the simple questions at church and say I believed all the same things as my parents. I couldn’t perform the expected formalities without wondering why someone else didn’t do things the same way. Even hymns had diff...