Gods In Alabama
'Dark, moving and very addictive' (Heat)
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
There are gods in Alabama. I know because I killed one.
When Lena Fleet goes to college, she makes three promises to God: she will stop sleeping with every boy she meets; she will never tell another lie; and she will never, ever go back to her hometown in Alabama. All she wants from God in return is that He makes sure the body is never found . . .
But ten years later, it looks like God's going back on His deal. Lena's high school archenemy appears on her doorstep, looking for the golden haired football god who disappeared during their senior year. To make matters worse, her African American boyfriend has issued her with an ultimatum - introduce him to her lily-white family or he's gone.
While she would rather burn in a fire than let him meet her steel magnolia Aunt Florence, her half-mad Mama, her sweet-as-pie cousin Clarice and the rest of her eccentric and racist family, Lena realises it is time to go home to Alabama and confront the past once and for all.
As she digs through guilt and deception, she discovers how far she will go for love and a chance at redemption.
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Praise for GODS IN ALABAMA:
'A plucky heroine with a sense of humour, a gripping tale and a mysterious dead body that needs explanation. [Jackson] takes the reader on a wild ride of despair, hope and redemption that no reader is likely to ever forget. What a storyteller!' - Adriana Trigiani, author of Lucia, Lucia
'A startling page turner. This is a beautifully crafted, sassy novel, where nothing is quite as it seems. The way the final pieces of the jigsaw slot together . . . should surprise even the most jaded of readers' - Glamour
This winning novel is the kind that readers crave: you can't stop turning the pages, but you wish it would never end' - Christina Schwarz, author of Drowning Ruth
'I couldn't put this book down. From the first chapter, the plot leaps forward and it doesn't stop twisting and turning until the last page' - Melanie Sumner, author of The School of Beauty
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arlene Fleet, the refreshingly imperfect heroine of Jackson's frank, appealing debut, launches her story with a list of the title's deities: "high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus." The first god, also a date rapist by the name of Jim Beverly, she left dead in her hometown of Possett, Ala., but the last she embraces wholeheartedly when high school graduation allows her to flee the South, the murder and her slutty reputation for a new life in Chicago. Upon leaving home, Arlene makes a bargain with God, promising to forgo sex, lies and a return home if he keeps Jim's body hidden. After nine years in Chicago as a truth-telling celibate, an unexpected visitor from home (in search of Jim Beverly) leads her to believe that God is slipping on his end of the deal. As Arlene heads for the Deep South with her African-American boyfriend, Burr, in tow, her secrets unfold in unsurprising but satisfying flashbacks. Jackson brings levity to familiar themes with a spirited take on the clich s of redneck Southern living: the Wal-Mart culture, the subtle and overt racism and the indignant religion. The novel concludes with a final, dramatic disclosure, though the payoff isn't the plot twist but rather Jackson's genuine affection for the people and places of Dixie.
