Prayers and Lies (41 page)

Gazing at my tiny daughter’s face as she sleeps in my arms, I know that.

Melinda and her brood came last week to see us. She and Barry have adopted a whole litter of kids. They’ve cobbled together a veritable United Nations—Rudy from Pakistan, Tyler from Nigeria, Kelsey from Guatemala, and now Alyssa from China. The kids hovered over Lily Belle, touching her tiny pink face with small brown fingers, recognizing her as their cousin—family, of course, being how you define it.

Melinda shook her head and sighed at how much Lily favors Tracy—her round hazel eyes sparkling over a slightly upturned nose. But she has my dark hair and a scattering of Melinda’s freckles. And I know what Melinda doesn’t about Lily … what I see in those hazel eyes.

Lily Belle is part me and part Brian. And between Brian and me, there is no bad blood.

Please turn the page for a very special Q&A with Sherri Wood Emmons.

What motivated you to write a novel?

I didn’t start out to write a novel, actually. I wanted to just write down some of my remembrances from childhood. My family spent several summers on the Coal River in West Virginia, and those are some of my favorite childhood memories. But in writing them down, I began to worry, “Did that really happen? Or did I make that up?” Finally, I gave myself permission to stop worrying and just write. And a novel came out.

How did you get the idea for this story?

In the beginning, I just had an idea of Reana Mae—a little girl, pretty much unwanted by her parents, raising herself as best she could. And her relationship with Bethany, a kind of sisterhood of misfits, saving them both from a pretty lonely existence. The story came as I was writing it. I really didn’t know where it was going until it got there.

What made you decide to write in the voice of a child?

I started out writing in the third person, but it just didn’t work. So then I tried writing from Reana’s perspective, but there were too many secrets she had that I didn’t want to give away. So, Bethany as the narrator made sense. She’s close to Reana, but she’s gone for periods of time. So she discovers Reana Mae’s secrets over time, the way the reader does.

You have a couple of pretty unlikable characters, and yet in the end, both Tracy and Caleb generate some sympathy. How did that happen?

I did not mean for either of them to be sympathetic, really. But as I was writing, I couldn’t seem to help it! Honestly, I would be writing about Caleb and all these “mitigating factors” just came out—his father abandoned the family, his mother has given up on him. Those things don’t excuse what he does, but they do explain it somewhat.

As for Tracy, she started out pretty hateful. But I think the more I wrote, the more I understood that she was mentally ill. And again, it doesn’t excuse her actions, but it does explain them. When she died—when I was writing that scene—I actually was crying as I wrote. It surprised me how grief-stricken I was.

You write about the “bad blood” in Bethany’s family. What is “bad blood”?

Bad blood is a strain of mental illness that runs through the family. I didn’t try to define what the illness is. I don’t know enough about psychology to even pretend to know. But I’m thinking it tends toward bipolar disorder or narcissism. Either way, it’s not dealt with, it’s hushed up, until the family can’t ignore it anymore.

Why is the title “Prayers and Lies”?

Bethany starts out with a very naïve, Sunday school kind of belief in God. And that belief gets strained to the breaking point when bad things happen that she cannot rationalize or understand. In the end, I think, she comes to a more nuanced, shades-of-gray kind of faith. In the end, I guess most of us do.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Write! I am living proof that a first novel can get published!

A READING GROUP GUIDE

PRAYERS AND LIES

Sherri Wood Emmons

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The suggested questions are included to enhance your group’s reading of Sherri Wood Emmons’s
Prayers and Lies
.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Is there a villain in the story? Who is the villain? Is there anything that makes his or her actions understandable? Is that character redeemable?
   

2. Aunt Belle explains to Reana Mae and Bethany that Helen’s family carries “bad blood.” What is the bad blood? How might it be diagnosed today?
   

3. Does knowing about the bad blood change the way you view Tracy?
   

4. Do Helen and Jimmy bear responsibility for Tracy’s death? What could they have done to prevent it?
   

5. Did Jolene have a right to know who her father was? Should Helen have told her? Why or why not?
   

6. Is there any good in the relationship between Reana Mae and Caleb? What good would that be?
   

7. Why did Reana Mae have sex with Harley Boy on the day of Araminta’s funeral? What does her decision say about her attitude toward sex?
   

8. How might the story have changed if Jolene had not lost her baby?
   

9. What responsibility does Bobby Lee bear for Reana Mae’s relationship with Caleb?
   

10. Were Harley Boy, Ruthann, and Bethany right to keep quiet after they found out about Reana Mae and Caleb? Should they have told their parents the truth?
    

11. What role does Neil play in the story?
    

12. Why is the book titled
    Prayers and Lies
    ? Is there a faith element to the story?
    

13. Why is the story told from Bethany’s perspective? Is that an effective narrative device? How might the story be different if it were told in the third person?
    

14. Was moving Reana Mae to Indianapolis the right decision for her? Was it the right decision for the rest of the family?
    

15. What enabled Helen to rise above the circumstances of her childhood and become a sane, loving mother?
    

16. Given the family history of “bad blood,” is it irresponsible for Bethany to choose to have a child?
    

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Is there a villain in the story? Who is the villain? Is there anything that makes his or her actions understandable? Is that character redeemable?

2. Aunt Belle explains to Reana Mae and Bethany that Helen’s family carries “bad blood.” What is the bad blood? How might it be diagnosed today?

3. Does knowing about the bad blood change the way you view Tracy?

4. Do Helen and Jimmy bear responsibility for Tracy’s death? What could they have done to prevent it?

5. Did Jolene have a right to know who her father was? Should Helen have told her? Why or why not?

6. Is there any good in the relationship between Reana Mae and Caleb? What good would that be?

7. Why did Reana Mae have sex with Harley Boy on the day of Araminta’s funeral? What does her decision say about her attitude toward sex?

8. How might the story have changed if Jolene had not lost her baby?

9. What responsibility does Bobby Lee bear for Reana Mae’s relationship with Caleb?

10. Were Harley Boy, Ruthann, and Bethany right to keep quiet after they found out about Reana Mae and Caleb? Should they have told their parents the truth?

11. What role does Neil play in the story?

12. Why is the book titled Prayers and Lies? Is there a faith element to the story?

13. Why is the story told from Bethany’s perspective? Is that an effective narrative device? How might the story be different if it were told in the third person?

14. Was moving Reana Mae to Indianapolis the right decision for her? Was it the right decision for the rest of the family?

15. What enabled Helen to rise above the circumstances of her childhood and become a sane, loving mother?

16. Given the family history of “bad blood,” is it irresponsible for Bethany to choose to have a child?