This “fiercely written and endlessly readable” novel of a teenage girl in thrall to a magnetic—and terrifying—preacher who promises to save her dying town is “a godsend” (Entertainment Weekly).
Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it’s an … paradise. Now it’s an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret “assignments,” to bring the rain everybody is praying for.
Lacey has no reason to doubt the pastor. But then her life explodes in a single unimaginable act of abandonment: her mother, exiled from the community for her sins, leaves Lacey and runs off with a man she barely knows. Abandoned and distraught, Lacey May moves in with her widowed grandma, Cherry, who is more concerned with her taxidermy mouse collection than her own granddaughter. As Lacey May endures the increasingly appalling acts of men who want to write all the rules and begins to uncover the full extent of Pastor Vern’s shocking plan to bring fertility back to the land, she decides she must go on a quest to find her mother no matter what it takes. With her only guidance coming from the romance novels she reads and the unlikely companionship of the women who knew her mother, she must find her own way through unthinkable circumstances.
Possessed of an unstoppable plot and a brilliantly soulful voice, Godshot is a book of grit and humor and heart, a debut novel about female friendship and resilience, mother-loss and motherhood, and seeking salvation in unexpected places. It introduces a writer who gives Flannery O’Connor’s Gothic parables a Californian twist and who emerges with a miracle that is all her own.
“[A] haunting debut . . . This is a harrowing tale, which Bieker smartly writes through the lens of a teenager on the cusp of understanding the often fraught relationship between religion and sexuality . . . It’s a timely and disturbing portrait of how easily men can take advantage of vulnerable women—and the consequences sink in more deeply with each page.”—Annabel Gutterman, Time
“Drawn in brilliant, bizarre detail—baptism in warm soda, wisdom from romance novels—Lacey’s twin crises of faith and femininity tangle powerfully. Fiercely written and endlessly readable, a novel like this is a godsend. A-.”—Mary Sollosi, Entertainment Weekly
“[An] absolute masterpiece . . . Imagine if Annie Proulx wrote something like White Oleander crossed with Geek Love or Cruddy, and then add cults, God, motherhood, girlhood, class, deserts, witches, the divinity of women . . . Terrifying, resplendent, and profoundly moving, this book will leave you changed.” —T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
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Three stars instead of four because it really took a long time for me to get invested in the heroine; felt like I had wandered around the town of Peaches a few too many times by the time the storyline really kicked off for me. Once it did I was very eager to read on and see what fate would befall Lacie and who would be on the right (or wrong) side of history when it came to keeping her safe.
I’m a native Californian, a veteran of many dry years; the descriptions of the drought the town experiences were very evocative and I found myself feeling just as parched as the people and the land depicted in the novel.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/ideas-books-go-on-a-literary-road-trip-through-the-golden-state
Continuing north up I-5, we reach the flat inland stretches of the Central Valley, where Chelsea Bieker’s sparkling debut novel, God Shot, takes place. The fictional town of Peaches, outside of Fresno, once known for its raisins, is mired in drought. Desperate people seek signs and saviors, and into this void enters Pastor Vern, who declares himself God and makes strange demands, ordering his congregation to shop solely at the local Pac N’ Save, for example, even though it stocks only canned goods and “the occasional bag of corn chips.” Water is so scarce, brown liquid runs from the taps; Pastor Vern conducts baptisms with off-brand cola.
Bieker’s winning narrator is 14-year-old Lacey May, whose mother quits drinking at Pastor Vern’s behest but is also ordered to take an “assignment” at the local phone sex line. When Lacey May becomes a “woman of blood,” Pastor Vern assigns her a disturbing task as her mother runs off, following a dubious chance at a Hollywood break.
At first, God Shot appears to be a work of post-apocalyptic fiction, set sometime in the near future. But Bieker references the devastating 2018 fires in Paradise, California, revealing this quirky, smart novel as a story about the apocalypse now, and how quickly climate change can ravage a community and make it susceptible to opportunistic charlatans like Vern. Still, for all its dour elements, God Shot is a hopeful book, mostly because of the pluck of its protagonist, who learns how to save herself despite her upbringing.
This strangely contemporary theme like The Handmaids Tale kept me reading to see how or if the characters could win their battle. I hope Beiker writes another novel. This first work deserves attention.
Lacey Mae’s mother brought her into the church, the followers believe their pastor will bring the rain, but with his teachings come assignments, assignments that draw Lacey May’s mother away. Drawn to the bottle and pursuing a new life with a new man, her mother leaves Lacey May behind, just as her first blood appears. The pastor believes he can bestow fertility upon the land, but the assignments he gives the young girls and boys is beyond what you can imagine. Desperate to hold onto anything she can of her mother, Lacey May turns to her mother’s old romance novels and her previous job as a telephone companion. A story of grief, hope, fear, and love, Godshot is Chelsea Bieker’s debut novel about a young girl and the resilience all women share.
“I loved watching her. My mother was the sun in a dark room.”
Oh my cult fascinated soul was so happy with this book. Maybe it was due to my familiarity with the landscape in dry Central California, maybe it was the desperation in Lacey May, maybe it was the religious cult story line, I don’t know that I can pinpoint it to just one thing, but Godshot absolutely gutted me. It’s a coming-of-age story filled with all the fears mother’s express for their young girls, all experienced by and told from the perspective of 14-year-old Lacey May. Naive, impressionable, and yet so smart, Lacey May reads exactly as I would expect a 14 year old teen to. She’s both young and old at the same time, her experiences beyond her age. The story is a difficult one, this is not the family love you want, and yet it’s the truth of many mother-daughter relationships. Her mother has not protected her, she’s selfish and yet there’s a complexity to her that you only discover by learning about her just as Lacey May does. You come to sympathize with her, even more so with Lacey May, as Chelsea Bieker describes the life they’ve each been given.
“Whatever’s happened to you can either make you beautiful, or it will ruin you forever. You decide.”
Okay, yes there’s a cult story line and I really enjoyed it, especially from the perspective of the youth. It’s the most perfect example of someone taking advantage of age, upbringing, and opportunity. He preys on youth, enforces gender-roles, and teaches to church members that do not have any proper education. Beyond that though, Godshot is about relationships. Lacey May, at just 14, has some incredible experiences with relationships. Her family, her mother’s friends, the old and new friends she makes both inside and outside the church, her own with herself. We see her move from childlike relationships to those that serve her, to friendships where she desires more for others, to understanding her own needs and desires. I so loved Lacey May stepping into her own, learning her own powers and strengths, the resiliency in herself, the power in forgiving and loving.
Disturbing, surprising, and as magnificent as the cover it boasts, Godshot is easily one of my top reads for 2020. Chelsea Bieker has written an engrossing, honest novel with distinctive prose. This is a book you do not forget. It now lives on my bookshelf alongside White Oleander.
What I was reading repulsed me but I could not put down Chelsea Bieker’s debut novel Godshot. Lacey’s narrative voice drew me in, her conflicted nativity and faith struggling to survive as her family and community fails to protect her. The novel reaches into the deepest questions of life and illustrates the limitations of love and faith.
The tragic series of events and abuse endured will be hard for some to follow; this is a dark story. But just when it seems that Lacey has lost everything, including control over her own life, she finds salvation.
Drought has hit the town of Peaches, the orchards turned to dust. Pastor Vern finds the community ripe for hope and promises to deliver rain if they believe in him. Isolating the community from the world, believers allow him total control.
Pastor Vern brings good to some. Lacey’s mother found strength to overcome her alcoholism. Pastor Vern also destroys as he wields his total power. His plan to create a perfected church involves assignments, special purposes that believers long to be given. They want to be Godshot. Lacey’s mother’s assignment takes her on a downward spiral until she abandons Lacey to run off with a man filled with false promises.
Lacey is taken in by her grandmother, one of Pastor Vern’s unthinking believers. Lacey desperately misses her mother and endeavors to track her down, her search to learn taking her into the world beyond the Godshot.
Lacey’s assignment begins her journey of doubt. Would God require such things?
The novel touches on so many hot-button issues relating to the social status and role of women, the persistence of human hope placed in unreliable leaders, the love of a child for her mother, and the awakening of a young woman to see beyond her community’s teachings.
Lacey’s journey from darkness into light, from powerlessness to self-determination comes to a satisfying conclusion.
I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Lacey May and her mother live in Peaches, California which was once a prosperous town known as the “raisin capital of the world”. The future is now very uncertain after a prolonged drought and those who remain rely upon the guidance of Pastor Vern. The townspeople believe that the rain will return if they obey his rules and complete his assignments.
Lacey’s alcoholic mother is thrown out of town for not obeying Pastor Vern’s rules. Lacey is left to live with her grandmother and the location of her mother is kept a secret. She becomes obsessed with finding her mother and is soon selected for a horrible assignment. Lacey has serious choices to make and begins to question Pastor Vern and her membership in the community.
Godshot by Chelsea Bieker is a debut novel. This book hits Suzy’s sweet spot with a combination of a dark environment, gritty characters, and all the emotions of family bonds. I look forward to more books from this author in the future.
Wow. I am absolutely stunned and impressed after reading this amazing gem. I literally feel as if I was transported to the desolate dustbin of a wasteland of Peaches, California myself. The author’s ability to describe the desperation and hopelessness that swallowed that valley whole was oppressive and overwhelming. I almost thought I could even feel the unrelenting heat from the sun bearing down upon me as clouds of dust raised and settled around my shoes as I walked through their community.
My heart went out to Lacey May throughout the whole novel. I just wanted to pick her up, rescue and take her home with me. All of the trials and disappointments she goes through are things that no child should experience. I found her to be so strong, a good soul, intelligent (despite that “culture” not appreciating the female mind”, and most definitely a fighter. The most impressive trait however, was her ability to love and forgive despite the wrongs placed upon her again and again.
The author does an amazing job setting up the story, unraveling the details and history as the plot progresses, and then raises the ante with the suspense towards the latter 1/3 of the story. I was literally gripping the chair as I was hoping the ending would be satisfying….and it most definitely is. It is bittersweet but appropriate and well-placed. I do not think anything else would have worked as perfectly as how we see Lacey May finish (or is it start?) her journey. Perfect.
5/5 stars enthusiastically
Thank you Catapult Publishing and GR for this amazing giveaway and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
An extraordinary debut that is both gritty and compassionate. Bieker evokes the terrible ravished beauty of the Central Valley so vivdly you can feel the sun bake your skin, and characters are fresh and nuanced. It’s also so much more than a coming-of-age story, with themes of pseudo-religion, partiarchy, motherhood, and human longing. It’s unsettling and gorgeous; just read it!