Val Agnew’s absorbing young adult/new adult novel follows a young woman confronting questions of faith and family.

Eighteen-year-old Kate Bennett’s difficult mother has just died, leaving Kate’s father and two younger sisters adrift. Kate blames herself, as her mother had a stroke upon learning Kate would be attending an evangelical bible college, against the family’s wishes.

Nevertheless, she sets out for The Ark, a church and school run by the charismatic Pastor Steve. She accustoms herself to its strict rules and to her quirky roommates, including glamorous, rebellious Bobbi.

Pastor Steve’s handsome nephew, Luke, encourages Kate in her faith journey. Their relationship quickly intensifies, and Kate finds herself being groomed for the role of a pastor’s wife. Yet, although she longs for the stability and purpose her new life offers, Kate also questions The Ark’s teachings about the role of women. And faced with Luke’s physical standoffishness in the name of premarital chastity, she grapples with an attraction to Nick, an earthy colleague at her off-campus job.

When Bobbi suddenly leaves the school, Kate sets off to find out what happened to her — eventually uncovering disturbing revelations about The Ark that force her to reconsider her path.

Kate is a terrific, layered main character, offering a relatable mix of strengths and weaknesses. She possesses a genuine faith in God and desire to do good, but her devotion is entwined with a need to escape the complications of her everyday life. And although a bit of a pushover in her initial enchantment with Luke, she proves herself a strong and loving friend to Bobbi.

Agnew also excels at depicting the complexity of Kate’s relationships with her family. For instance, Kate slowly and poignantly acknowledges that her harsh and sometimes unloving mother’s legacy has a positive aspect as well.

With its believable, engaging protagonist and multi-faceted plot, Lost in The Ark offers its young- and new-adult audience a fully satisfying read.

Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5

In the coming-of-age novel Lost in the Ark, a teenager with an independent streak achieves self-worth by staying true to her personal beliefs.

In Valerie Agnew’s young adult novel Lost in the Ark, a traumatized teenager seeks refuge in a devout community and confronts its dark secrets.

Kate, who was raised without religion, wishes to join a local Christian community, the Ark, which is led by a charismatic preacher. But her combative mother refuses to allow it. When her mother dies, and her father becomes distant while her sisters decline, Kate decides to join the the Ark after all. She hopes to find belonging among its devout ranks. Indeed, the community welcomes Kate: she finds like-minded friends among her roommates, especially vivacious Bobbi, who brings out the most vibrant aspects of her own personality.

But Kate still has commitments to her family life that prevent her from fully integrating into the Ark. She takes a job outside of the Ark’s ranks, even as she spends quality time with the Ark’s preacher’s nephew (while also taking interest in a coworker). When she begins to notice how the Ark subjugates its women, she comes to the realization that its preacher might not be as upstanding as he seems. Her search for personal meaning falters in this morass.

The novel includes a taut love triangle that is made to ably exemplify Kate’s struggles between faith and independence. The preacher’s nephew offers her a concrete future, but it’s one whose fine points will be determined by the church, without any consideration of her desires; in contrast, her coworker speaks to her more passionate side, and also affords her respect. A harrowing discovery and a community expulsion force Kate to make a difficult, dramatic, and weighty choice about her future in the Ark.

Subtle in its pacing, the novel becomes more unsettling as Kate sinks into the Ark’s devout community. By the time she’s made aware of its painful truths, she’s experienced transitions in her own life that forced her to grow; she is only able to confront the community’s darkness because of these maturations. And throughout, her conversations with Bobbi and the preacher are a gripping narrative device, marked by simmering tension and (in the case of the latter) her faltering strength; their implications persist even after they’ve ended.

In the coming-of-age novel Lost in the Ark, a teenager with an independent streak forms a sense of self-worth by staying true to her personal beliefs.

In this debut novel, a teen’s newfound Christianity may have landed her in the midst of a cult.

Kate Bennett doesn’t leave her Salem, Massachusetts, family on good terms. Her loved ones do not approve of her decision to attend The Ark, a “Bible school” that her mother calls a cult. When Ma suddenly dies of a stroke, Kate’s dad puts the blame solely on her. But things are looking rosy at The Ark’s New Hampshire campus, with its tranquil backdrop of mountains and pine trees. The generally reticent Kate makes friends and even catches the eye of Luke Carlson, the attractive nephew of The Ark’s founder, pastor Steve Carlson. In between her training to become a missionary, Kate grows close to Luke, who abides by The Ark rules—nothing more than hugs and hand-holding. Kate craves a bit more affection, and Nick, her much more passionate co-worker at a local grocery store, complicates her life. But her greater choice involves The Ark, as she uncovers a shocking secret or two that may validate her mother’s weighty cult label. Agnew’s initially breezy tale—Kate adjusting to campus life—gradually turns moody, though never outright scary. For example, The Ark unquestionably displays cultish traits (the “witness bus” essentially gathers recruits). In this absorbing story, the author offers a familiar interpretation of Christianity. Some readers will reject such biblical lessons as women being submissive to men (for example, the pastor or a husband), while the message of loving everyone is one most will embrace. But the audience will quickly sympathize with Kate; guilt over her mother’s death burdens her, and it seems what she really craves from The Ark is companionship. She’s a multilayered character with an intriguing backstory. In Salem, she handled schoolwork while serving as a mother to her younger sisters when Ma simply wasn’t interested. Despite her parent’s flaws, Kate sometimes assumed Ma’s caustic attitude, which proved effective against loathsome guys.

An engrossing tale of the ups and downs of family and faith.