Touched — Carolyn Haines

The Deep South never gets any deeper than 1920s Jexville, Mississippi, of Carolyn Haines' novel Touched. Dirt poor Mattie is the arranged bride of the town's barber Elikah, who is prone to deliver vicious beatings to his young wife. When a little girl is struck by lightning at a party and not only survives, but seems to have attained the ability to predict the future, Jexville is turned on its ear. The townspeople believe that the child is probably in league with the devil and that she and her mother are a danger. Mattie befriends the pair, earning punishment at the hands of her husband before winning freedom for herself and her newfound friends.