The Barnes & Noble ReviewLaVyrle Spencer is apparently retiring from writing her marvelous bestsellers. As a final goodbye, she has penned "Then Came Heaven." It is a true thank you to both her millions of readers as well as to the small town in Minnesota of her earliest memories. The one thing that has remained consistent throughout Spencer's career is the high standard of her fiction. She is a literate writer who has also been blessed with a true gift for storytelling. "Then Came Heaven" is no exception. Like her previous fiction, it is a love story. This time, though, the love is not merely between two people but between a writer and the town of her past. "Then Came Heaven" is a story of simple beauty and the courage to answer the call of love. Browerville, Minnesota, is the setting of "Then Came Heaven," a novel of nostalgia for small towns, for the descendants of the Polish immigrants who settled such towns, and for the love of church life. As Spencer's tale begins, the year is 1950. The day is cast in the warm glow of early September as two railroad engineers debate then-current politics. But as their train approaches a crossing at Browerville, something terrible is about to happen. Krystyna Olczak is in her car, trying to get across the tracks before the train arrives. The tragedy occurs, and Krystyna, young, beautiful, and the mother of two girls, is dead. Her husband, Eddie, rushes to the scene of the accident too late. His grief is enormous. The local parish priest comes to his side, as well as friends and much of the local community. Someone else, too, is affected strongly by thisterrible accident. Sister Regina is a young nun who teaches Eddie's daughters at the local parish school. She is one of several Benedictine nuns in town, all of whom have taken vows of chastity and poverty. The Holy Rule of the Church forbids the nuns from so much as touching