The Women of Paradise County: Book 1
Publication Date: June 7, 2024
When we first meet Mary Kline in God Bless the Child, Book One of The Women of Paradise County series, she is sewing, her main obsession besides eating. It is hard to blame Mary for who she has become. She’s been perpetually hungry since childhood, and as she becomes a woman, she craves something far more delicious-a child of her own.
When Pearl Davis turns up pregnant after a church-basement encounter with James Pullman, the pastor’s son, Mary and her parents swoop in and “adopt” Pearl and her baby, Elizabeth. It’s a disastrous move.
As a teen, Elizabeth rebuffs Mary’s smothering affection and winds up pregnant. Mary insists on an abortion, which they both keep secret. When she later becomes a young mother, Elizabeth’s depression leads to severe OCD. When her irrationally patient husband, David, learns about the abortion and the harrowing nights Elizabeth witnessed as a child when her birth mother was abused, more secrets are revealed that explain Mary Kline’s insatiable appetite and her desire to be loved.
By the time Mary and Elizabeth confront the twisted truths that bind them, their entire family is sucked into grappling with layers of trauma spanning three generations.
Everyone in God Bless the Child must reckon with their past as they seek forgiveness and redemption.
By today’s standards, Mary Kline’s character might be described as “statuesque” or “big-boned.” However, as one of the primary characters in The Women of Paradise County series, she’s just plain fat.
Author Anne Shaw Heinrich delivers an exceptional cast of characters in God Bless the Child. In bringing them to life, she offers multiple perspectives by utilizing alternating narrators. The characters become multi-dimensional, allowing readers to fully appreciate the development through the story.
The plot itself offers a unique foray into messy relationships. Mary Kline, Pearl, and Elizabeth are united in the most unlikely fashion. It’s highly engaging as their dysfunction unfolds. What is unexpected is a devastating secret that serves as the catalyst for a multi-generational impact.
While the romantic relationship between Mary Kline and Johnson plays a tiny role in the story, it provides an interesting twist, especially since Mary Kline has deemed herself unlovable.
God Bless the Child kicks off a series with broken characters shaped by their experiences.
Since she first fell in love with writing in high school, Anne Shaw Heinrich has been a journalist, columnist, blogger and communications professional. Her first article appeared in Rockford Magazine in 1987. She’s interviewed and written features on Beverly Sills, Judy Collins, Gene Siskel, and Debbie Reynolds. Anne’s writing has been featured in The New York Times bestseller The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2: Your Turn (Atria) and Chicken Soup for the Soul’s The Cancer Book: 101 Stories of Courage, Support and Love. Her debut novel, God Bless the Child, is the first in a three-book series. She and her husband are parents to three adult children. Anne is passionate about her family, mental health advocacy and the intrepid power of storytelling.
