All grieving takes time. It can't be hurried or covered up. But grieving for a parent can be especially complicated. What if your relationship wasn't very good? What if there are unresolved issues? What if you must care for a living parent in the midst of your own grief?

Austin Boyd’s vivid writing plunges you into Appalachia with such descriptive realism that you taste the perfume of summer clover and melt into the tender heart of a young woman who would sacrifice anything for Daddy. Hearkening to the myth of Pandora’s Box, Nobody’s Child sweeps you into a world where unprecedented choices never intended by heaven lead to unintended consequences never before seen on earth. Meet… Laura Ann McGehee—Determined to honor her father’s dying request, the young West Virginia woman will do whatever it takes to save the family farm, including using the one remaining financial resource she has—her body. Sophia McQuistion—Thanks to the unusual sacrifice of a woman she has never met, she carries the child she could never conceive. Ian Stewart—In Laura’s time of need, he’s more than just a close friend. He is a source of grace, a man who loves Laura Ann through her many trials. When unusual circumstances place Sophia’s baby in Laura Ann’s care, Laura Ann is now the virgin mother of her own biological son. The media call him “Nobody’s Child.” But somebody wants him badly enough to steal him. Weaving together bioethics and faith, Nobody’s Child dramatizes a future that is already upon us with consequences we can no longer avoid.

They say children live what they learn but thats not necessarily true, is it? Or is there an exception for me? I dont think it is true. It is a big myth to me as they say everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Well, let me give you a good example, and just to let you know, it may be graphic, so read at your own risk . This is a cross between love, hate and anger in a person's life This is a heart that has never mended even in adulthood. I have not lived what I learned. Are you ready to hear it? Here goes!

Sarah was severely beaten by her abusive husband while she was pregnant with Amy. He was trying to kill the unwanted life inside her. Mother and baby survived, but Amy was born prematurely, weighing just over a pound. Grandma Liz, a midwife and an old country doctor, fought desperately to give little Amy the chance to live. Listening to that story always made Amy feel close to God. When Grandma Liz, Amy’s caretaker, suffered a stroke, she solicited help from her brother-in-law and his wife, who had lost their own child at birth. Under the guise of helping, they stole Amy away to the swampy woods of southeast Texas, where little Amy nearly died of malaria...... another close call. God was really watching out for Amy. The “Great Depression” hit the country in 1929. Rural Texas and America were locked in its stranglehold. Amy was six. She wandered East and West Texas with her aunt and uncle, seeking work to buy food. Survival was the name of the game. They slept in their car, under the sky and in abandoned houses. They picked cotton; they tenant farmed, cut firewood to sell and raised hogs for market. By the time Amy was twelve, she could work like a full grown man. She nearly didn’t make it to twelve. When Amy was eleven, she nearly drowned in a creek. God put a total stranger in the woods at just the right time to rescue her. Amy was certain that God had saved her life for some special purpose or person. “Nobody’s Child” chronicles Amy’s story from her earliest childhood recollections, through the hard years of the “Depression” and later as a young mother awaiting her husband’s return from service in World War II. Her story is filled with both funny and sad moments and is told in a compelling faith based narrative.

In the rhythm of a familiar folk song, a child cannot resist adding one more dab of paint in surprising places.

The orphan trains stopped running in 1929 and the foster care system began. Hollywood relieved Depression era problems on the subject with films starring Shirley Temple. "Room for One More" with Cary Grant depicted the need for foster families. "Blossoms In the Dust" starring Greer Garson dealt with the social stigma faced by both the parents and the children. Having immigrant parents in the mix added more problems. This was my family. We were a family torn apart as our parents fought to regain their children while the system held them hostage to the moral tenor of the times. Once the State took us a promise was made, a promise believed. Why, in the end, did we then feel twice abandoned, twice betrayed?

Commended for the 2004 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Selection, short-listed for the 2005 Red Maple Award and Rocky Mountain Book Award When the Armenians of Turkey are marched into the desert to die in 1915, Mariam is rescued by her Turkish friend Rustem, and lives with mixed acceptance as a guest in his father’s harem. Kevork is shot and left for dead in a mass grave in the desert, but is rescued by nomadic Arabs and nurtured back to health. Both teens must choose between the security of an adopted home or the risk of death in search of family. A sequel to the highly successful The Hunger, Nobody’s Child is a stirring and engaging account of one of the twentieth century’s most significant events.