Secret Turning

A Collection of Short Stories

By: Stephen Siniari

Narrated by: Stephen Siniari

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

In this follow-up volume to Big in Heaven, stories of life at St. Alexander the Whirling Dervish parish continue. Gather with the boys at Shooky's Taproom, or hang out in the church hall with the Teuta Ladies Baking Society, and catch up on all the gossip about Father Naum and his friends and parishioners, as their lives unfold in struggles, hope, temptations, faith, and love.

You'll come away seeing your own life and those around you with new, more compassionate eyes.

©2022 Stephen Siniari (P)2022 Stephen Siniari

A Wonderful Experience

Fr. Stephen Siniari’s book Secret Turning is a masterpiece of storytelling. His descriptive prose gives a beautiful and insightful look into the everyday life of a diverse and vibrant Orthodox Parish. While listening to the audible book, it was easy to find myself transported to the yard with Misto telling his story or sitting next to Ms. Ruthie in her Sunday best with gloves. Fr. Siniari’s ability to weave a story with his incredible skill will have you unable to stop once you start. Few authors can paint a picture with words as vibrant as Fr. Siniari. The audible book is just a little over eight hours but is well worth it! This is also the perfect companion to his previous book Big in Heaven. I highly recommend this book both for Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike you will find insight into the humanity of man and his everyday struggle to turn toward God.

A glimpse through the eyes of a priest

I loved this compilation of short stories. Father Stephen is a fantastic storyteller. I felt as though I knew each character personally. Each emotion that they felt, every visual they saw, every situation they experienced, I was there in my mind. It is easy as a Christian to become disenchanted with the Church because it is made up of broken people. Broken people sin, and hurt one another. But Secret Turning helps us to see the real life needs of our fellow man. We all have secret places in our hearts that we only let a few select people know about and we all carry around untold burdens and pains. Even though I have no idea what it is like to live in the parts of our country and the world where these stories take place, I can relate to the humanness of the characters. Thank you Fr. Stephen sharing with us your loving perspective. I can only hope that my brothers and sisters in Christ are able to see my own lumps and bumps the way you do, with the eyes of our Heavenly Father.

Great audiobook, great narration!

Secret Turning by Father Stephen Siniari is a collection of stories about Father Naum and the fictional Parish of St Alexander the Whirling Dervish Orthodox Church. In the forward, Bruce Seraphim Felt states the stories of Father Stephen are different and they are, in a way that they pull you in and you feel you are there with the characters. You feel you know them. You laugh with them and you cry with them. I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend. The author, Father Stephen, narrated. His voice was perfect in pulling you into the stories with him. His inflection in portraying the characters was perfect. You feel like he is the character. You could feel his emotions in his voice as he read the stories. This is not a book to listen to in a hurry. You must stop and think about each story. Each story pulls you in and you can’t help but ponder on them. More than once I felt like I was sitting among the characters as Father Stephan narrated. This is a book that you will treasure and listen to again and again.

I received a copy of this audiobook for an honest review. I also bought the e-book so I could read and re-read the stories.

Poetic and Perplexing

"Secret Turning" by Stephen Siniari has been a perplexing book for me. This book of short stories is about the community of the fictional St. Alexander the Whirling Dervish parish. A community to which I had a hard time connecting until the end of the book. For the first half of the book, I didn’t feel much affinity for any of the characters. Many of the stories don't connect with my experiences in the parishes I have been blessed to join. That does not mean that I believe the stories aren’t genuine. Perhaps, I had a hard time connecting with them because there were several times characters and places felt lost in their descriptions. There was clearly a lot of care put into the poetry of the words, but it was all spelled out so exactly there was little room for the unveiling of character. They were what they were described as and nothing else. I could never quite get my head around what the community was like beyond appearances and the direct insights of the story's narrator.
There were moments that genuinely touched me in this book, but overall, it wasn’t for me. That being said, it might be perfect for those who enjoy detailed character descriptions, gritty short stories, and fiction about Orthodox characters. It is fantastic that Orthodox writers are publishing more fiction that is readily available to order! There is so much truth that can shine through in stories, and I hope Stephen Siniari and other Orthodox authors continue to be supported in this work!
A note on the audiobook. The audio tends to be soft, and I found I had to turn it up often to not lose the thread of the story. I am guessing a quieter environment or headphones would help with this.