The Mothers
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 1, 2017 6:45 PM | Last Updated: March 2, 2017
Brit Bennett
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken 17-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is 21, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance — and the subsequent cover-up — will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt. (From Riverhead Books)
From the book
We don't think of ourselves as "prayer warriors." A man must've come up with that term — men think anything difficult is war. But prayer is more delicate than battle, especially intercessory prayer. More than just a notion, taking up the burdens of someone else, often someone you don't even know. You close your eyes and listen to a request. Then you have to slip inside their body. You are Tracy Robinson, burning for whiskey. You are Cindy Harris's husband, searching your wife's phone. You are Earl Vernon, washing dirty knots out of your strung-out daughter's hair. If you don't become them, even for a second, a prayer is nothing but words.
From The Mothers by Brit Bennett ©2016. Published by Riverhead Books.