Jael hears voices. Some are real, like the voices of the others in her incest-survivor group, or the homeless woman she meets at the laundry. Some are more mysterious, like the Virgin Mary's. Jael was born into a hard life, but she's a survivor, growing stronger all the time. Waiting for the day when the only voice she needs is her own. So I was a ward of the court, and I slept on a cot in the basement of the Pentecostal church until old River Bill, a recently widowed deacon, offered to take me in. The church lady who came to bring me food and extra clothes delivered the news. As she picked nits out of my hair, she said it was a miracle from God that a man like River Bill would take a wild girl like me to raise as his own daughter . . .

A girl kills her mother for forcing her into prostitution and makes it look an accident. She becomes a vagabond and the novel follows her life of abuse at the hands of men, until she is rescued by social workers.

My thesis explores the process involved in adapting Sheri Reynolds' novel, Bitterroot Landing, into a stage play. During the adaptation process I faced numerous challenges, including structural issues, expanding or changing dialogue, omitting or melding scenes and characters, and dealing with the serious themes of incest and sexual abuse. This thesis describes these challenges and the steps I took to overcome them.

Ninah Huff, the teenage granddaughter of the founder of an isolated religious community, causes controversy when she is discovered to be pregnant with what she claims is a holy child

Explores the works and lives of late 20th-century southern women writers (Rosemary Daniell, Connie May Fowler, Lee Smith, Sheri Reynolds, Dorothy Allison, and Valerie Martin) to show how conservative Christian ideals of femininity shaped notions of religion, sexuality, and power, and how they and their characters grappled with opposing cultural expectations.

At the Church of Fire and Brimstone and Gods Almighty Baptizing Wind, Grandpa Herman makes the rules for everyone, and everyone obeys, or else. Try as she might, Ninah hasn't succeeded in resisting temptation her prayer partner, James and finds herself pregnant. She fears the wrath of Grandpa Herman, the congregation and of God Himself. But the events that follow show Ninah that Gods ways are more mysterious than even Grandpa Herman understands.