... But The Girl Didn't Believe It

Paul H. Davis takes off the gloves in this hard-hitting tale exposing the sordid side of religion. The story blazes a suspenseful trail through the sensual, the gruesome, the hilarious and the horrifying, pausing for moments of pathos and tenderness. A teenage girl is doing her best to navigate the life she's been handed: a stepfather tortured with guilt and bound in paranoia who rants about "The Devil", and a mother disempowered by their pastor's sermons and the Bible's injunctions to be obedient. Deception is her only choice when her newfound love collides with her stepfather's rules. The ruse works for a while, but an accident of timing unravels everything and plunges her into a hell from which suicide seems to be the only escape. A stranger she met on the beach becomes her rescuer, and with his support honesty becomes the foundation for rebuilding her life. Honesty begets courage, courage leads to charisma and charisma opens a door to celebrity. Her candor stirs the public into joining her expos of the myths and delusions that enable so much ugliness, suffering and death. Honesty presents its own challenges, though. Her developing body is sending startling new signals, and acknowledging them honestly might require sacrificing her love. What does "love" mean, anyway? And, for that matter, what are delusions and what is reality?