If Only for This Life fits the twenty-first century in its deliberate use of the supernatural, a prominent trait of postmodernism. However, in a novel we consider postmodern the magic just happens willy-nilly; there is no explanation for it. Reality is in the eye of the beholder, so inexplicable happenings such as Remedios the Beauty’s sudden ascent into the air and out of sight in García Márquez’s Cien Años de Soledad needs to be accepted rather than explained. Robin Hardy definitely suggests an explanation for her novel’s strange happenings, such as cut orchids appearing in a locked office, multiplying and sprouting roots and leaves. Fletcher Streiker, a stand-in for the resurrected Christ (as Hardy says in the study notes at the back of the book), is behind the supernatural events. Adair Weiss, Fletcher’s wife, who loves flowers, has simply dropped them through the air as encouragement to Sammy Kidman, whom Fletcher is trying to teach to do exactly what he says posthaste, whether he understands or not. The novel is another allegory of the Christian life such as Hardy’s earlier trilogy, Streiker’s Bride, Streiker the Killdeer, and Striker’s Morning Sun. The allegory’s theme is that God equips the Christian to do whatever God asks. Christians like me who love allegory will treasure the book and look forward to the next one in the series due to appear in another year. Non-Christians and readers who eschew allegory will be happier leaving it on the shelf. ( )