God bless the child - anne shaw heinrich

When we first meet Mary Kline in God Bless the Child , Book One of The Women of Paradise County series, she is sewing, her main obsession besides eating.

It is hard to blame Mary for who she has become.

Shes been perpetually hungry since childhood, and as she becomes a woman, she craves something far more delicious-a child of her own.

When Pearl Davis turns up pregnant after a church-basement encounter with James Pullman, the pastors son, Mary and her parents swoop in and adopt Pearl and her baby, Elizabeth.

Its a disastrous move.

As a teen, Elizabeth rebuffs Marys smothering affection and winds up pregnant.

Mary insists on an abortion, which they both keep secret.

When she later becomes a young mother, Elizabeths depression leads to severe OCD.

When her irrationally patient husband, David, learns about the abortion and the harrowing nights Elizabeth witnessed as a child when her birth mother was abused, more secrets are revealed that explain Mary Klines insatiable appetite and her desire to be loved.

By the time Mary and Elizabeth confront the twisted truths that bind them, their entire family is sucked into grappling with layers of trauma spanning three generations.

Everyone in God Bless the Child must reckon with their past as they seek forgiveness and redemption.