Summer of the Redeemers by Carolyn Haines

Summer of the Redeemers by Carolyn Haines

The Jexville Chronicles #1

In the summer of 1963, KaliOka Road is Bekkah Rich’s world. Trusted by her parents, she has the freedom to roam and explore in the safety of rural Mississippi—as long as she remains on the red dirt road. Kali Oka dead-ends at an abandoned church and crosses the notorious Cry Baby Creek, where locals say a young infant, deliberately drowned, can be heard crying for mercy late at night. As the summer rolls out, three events change Bekkah forever. Nadine, with her stable of show horses, moves onto the road. Then, a reclusive religious group— the Redeemers—rumored to practice strange rituals, takes over the old church. Shortly after that, her best friend’s infant sister Maebelle goes missing. Horse crazy Bekkah falls under the sway of Nadine, but it is the desperate need to find Maebelle that motivates her to take dangerous actions. No one on KaliOka Road is who or what they seem. Bekkah must face the truth of a grownup world and learn that trust and judgment come at a cost.

A note from the author: “This was my first published novel. It’s a coming of age story, about a young girl, Bekkah Rich, who lives on a red dirt road in rural Mississippi in the ‘60s. Bekkah is a good girl, though a bit horse crazy and confronting the time when she begins pulling away from her family and trying to discover who she is. The ‘60s in Mississippi were a tumultuous time, and Bekkah confronts some of those issues. But the driving story of the book involves the abduction of an infant, Maebelle VanCamp Waltman, the baby sister of Bekkah’s best friend. Bekkah believes members of a religious cult are to blame, but she when and Alice start investigating, they bite off more than they bargain for.

When I was growing up, I was the most horse-crazy kid in the world. And I love local legends and folk lore. The story of Kali Oka Road and Cry Baby Creek originated in Mobile County, but I “borrowed” them for my purposes in this novel. Not a single event in this book happened, but there is a lot of emotional truth between the covers.

*100% of proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Good Fortune Farm Refuge, helping abandoned pets receive medical treatment and loving homes.