Waters Of Marah — Sylvia Bambola

"I have hopes...dreams.... I want to be loved."

She thought of the picture of Tucker. She had trimmed it around the edges so it would fit in her wallet, then wedged it between her driver's license and Visa card like a guilty secret. She wondered if most people carried secrets in their wallets, or only those who led small lives. Small lives didn't require large secret spaces.

Gloria Bickford may be named after the legendary actress Gloria Swanson, but she has none of the grace, beauty, or backbone of her mother's favorite film star. In fact, everything Gloria does is a disappointment to her beauty-queen mother. Especially rejecting the marriage proposal of Cutter Press.

So, at the insistence of her pushy best friend -- and, she believes, in response to the call of God -- Gloria abruptly leaves behind all the smallnesses of life in her hometown. Her new job in Eckerd City will make it possible to see her secretly beloved Tucker. The problem is that she may not like what she sees. And when Gloria finds herself caught in the crossfire between powerful business and environmental interests, everything God promised may turn out to look much different than she expected.