FINALIST FOR THE 2018 NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD“Both timelessly beautiful and unbelievably timely.”—Chris Bohjalian, New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant A captivating novel of family, fame, and religion that tells the story of the seventeen-year-old daughter of an evangelical preacher, star of the family’s hit reality show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens … show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens to blow their entire world apart.
Esther Ann Hicks–Essie–is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She’s grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family’s fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie’s mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show’s producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia’s? Or do they try to arrange a marriage–and a ratings-blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media–through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell–Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?
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I’m not sure that anything I write will do this wonderful book justice, but I’m going to try.
This book not only tackles the hypocrisy long found in almost every religion, but particularly in today’s televangelists and megachurches. It also hits other tough subjects like rape, incest and how many turn a blind eye. And lets not leave out the false realities of reality shows.
If you think one book couldn’t possibly do justice to all those topics, you haven’t read The Book of Essie and you really should. I only wish the fictional world of Essie and how she decides to handle her life could be reality for so many others.
The author does a wonderful job showing and not telling, fashioning characters so real that there is no hesitation in whether you love them or hate them, and pulling the reader in until you just cannot stop reading.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and my only disappointment comes in because she has no huge backlist for me to read!