A Muddy Grace — River Jordan

Mabel, or “Mama Torch,” once provided a sanctuary for children while their parents sought work at mills in neighboring towns. That’s when Nobody’s Charlie came into her life, along with a flood of historic proportions. Mama Torch discovers that everything can change in an instant – and sometimes even for the good.  Set in the 1930’s, Muddy Grace takes place in a time when most folks live in the shadow of a kind of quiet desperation, as the fear of not having enough of anything prevails across the country. But on the hill of Mama Torch’s home, it's as if a kind of blessing lives there.  Food never comes up short and all are fed and well-tended, not one ever turned away. One day a child shows up who doesn’t have a mother, and over the course of a few conversations a motherless child bonds with a childless mother of many . . . and Nobody's Charlie becomes Mama Torch's own. Muddy Grace explores the universal, broader themes of love and loss, of losing faith only to strangely, finally discover it again. For Mabel, it's about how her choice to shelter a multitude from a thousand-year flood turns out to be the only road forward for her to rediscover her faith and dare to love again. Readers who love Clyde Edgerton, Silas House, Lee Smith, and Monica West will be enthralled by this new, unforgettable contribution to contemporary Southern fiction.