THIS I KNOW
Set in a small Midwest town in the late 1960s and helmed by an unforgettable young protagonist—compassionate, uncannily wise Grace—This I Know is a luminous coming-of-age story from an astonishing new voice.
Eleven-year-old Grace Carter has a talent for hiding things. She’s had plenty of practice, burying thoughts and feelings that might anger her strict Evangelical pastor father, and concealing the deep intuition she carries inside. The Knowing, as Grace calls it, offers glimpses of people’s pasts and futures. It enables her to see into the depth of her mother’s sadness, and even allows Grace to talk to Isaac, her twin brother who died at birth. To her wise, loving Aunt Pearl, the Knowing is a family gift; to her daddy, it’s close to witchcraft.
Grace can’t see into someone’s thoughts without their permission. But it doesn’t take her special talent to know that her small community is harboring its share of secrets. A young girl has gone missing. Within Grace’s own family too, the cracks are widening, as her sisters Hope, Joy, and Chastity enjoy the normal life that eludes Grace. It’s Grace’s kinship with other outsiders that keeps her afloat—Lyle, a gentle, homeless man, and Lola, a free-spirited new girl at school. But when her mother lapses into deep depression after bringing home a new baby, Grace will face a life-changing choice—ignore her gift and become the obedient daughter her father demands, or find the courage to make herself heard, even it means standing apart . . .
Advance Praise for Eldonna Edwards and This I Know
“Simply magical writing. Eldonna Edwards is a true storyteller. She tossed me straight into her book and there I stayed until the last word on the last page.” --Cathy Lamb, author of No Place I’d Rather Be
About Eldonna Edwards (San Luis Obispo, California Author)
A veteran massage therapist and former journaling instructor, Eldonna Edwards cut her teeth on the back of Southern Baptist pews in her provincial Midwest hometown. Her memoir LOST IN TRANSPLANTATION chronicles a life-changing decision to donate a kidney to an ailing stranger. She's also the subject of the award-winning documentary "Perfect Strangers" that follows one kidney patient and one potential kidney donor in their search for a possible match. Her debut novel THIS I KNOW is forthcoming from Kensington in May of 2018.
Eldonna strives to bring the reader into the narrator's world so you feel as though you're looking over her shoulder as events unfold in real time. She's drawn to stories about community--the places we live, the families we're born into, and the tribes we gravitate toward. She prefers hometown settings peopled with recognizable characters from the grocery store, a neighborhood cafe or noisy schoolyard. Her books explore the bigger questions of one's meaning and purpose and the overlapping consequences of our choices, good and bad. Eldonna integrates humor into her stories to balance the complex and sometimes darker aspects of challenging situations. Eldonna--who also goes by Ellie--currently lives on the central California coast with her long-time partner Brer and beloved 4-legged companion Bella.
