Mary Not Broken
1930s Mississippi. Fifteen-year-old Mary Johnson rebels against her preacher father’s rules and rural life in Flora, Mississippi. When well-to-do, older Reverend Will Bevers courts her, she hastily marries Mason Carter, her sharecropper boyfriend, and they move to Chicago to pursue big city life and Mason’s music career.
Mary births a son, and the couple relocates to NYC. Tragic events occur. Mason and their four children die, and Mary is convinced she has induced God’s wrath by her wild, shameful behavior. She returns to Flora and agrees to marry Bevers. Soon, his abuse causes her to flee, but Bevers pursues her. Later, as challenging and unexpected circumstances unfold, Mary must choose who and what is important.
Following Deborah L. King’s two successful coming-of-age novels featuring Glory Bishop, the daughter of Mary Johnson, Mary Not Broken offers an intense, immediately engaging prequel to King’s earlier books. King tells the story of Mary, a headstrong and tradition-defying protagonist, as she matures from a bold, impulsive girl to a passionate woman of faith. Her transitions from Deep South rural life to cosmopolitan cityscapes are vividly portrayed through skillfully crafted dialogue, intriguing characters, and detailed, intimate family scenes, creating a heart-wrenching, inspirational follow-up. Mary’s recipes at the novel’s end add a unique cultural twist.
