Dillard Early, Jr. wishes he didn't share the name with his father, a former "signs of the faith" Pentecostal pastor who imprisoned for possession of child pornography. He feels shamed by the name as the people in town whisper about him and some downright fear him because of what his father did, but he struggles to break free from what he was taught that handling poisonous snakes and drinking poison without the ultimate consequence (death) showed pure faith in Christ. He sees no way out of the small town of Forrestville, Tennessee, where he lives with his disillusioned mother who works two low-wage jobs to survive and try to pay off the massive debt left behind by his father. Dill has been raised to believe that the debt is his burden and that his future is limited paying off the debt and continuing his father’s “ministry”, even though he knows there should be more to his life.
Dill's only hope? His friends Travis, who escapes the wrath of his alcoholic father through a series of fantasy books, and Lydia, an intellectual, ambitious fashion blogger and the daughter of a dentist who has no idea what it is like living the way Dill and Travis have to live. In an unexpected event of tragic loss, and the inevitable loss he has dreaded for years, can Dill escape his family legacy of losing oneself to darkness in the grief of the mourning process?
The author's use of analogy and directness induces compassion for Dill, hope for Travis, frustration for Lydia, and sorrow for all of them. This book tells a poignant story of growing up, change, grief and a little glimmer of hope that can overcome despair.
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