In the tradition of Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild," Rock's "My Abandonment," inspired by a true story and told through the startlingly sincere voice of his young protagonist, offers a riveting and unsettling account of a girl and her father who live off the grid.

Kelly Jenkins heads to bucolic Blue Moon, Alabama, believing a new life will heal the two orphaned children in her care. Signing on to revive the drive-in theater seems like a worthy venture, until she discovers the property is in deep disrepair. Still, spurred on by the elderly owner’s plea, Kelly takes on the renovation, beginning with an ancient tree that needs to come down—and unexpectedly bringing on the wrath of her reclusive neighbor ....

"Amy Dowell had always considered herself a very good mother. But when she loses her husband to illness and her home to debt, she finds herself and her young daughter Kimberly living on the streets as she struggles to find a job that will get them back on their feet again. When Amy meets Lucy Watts, the pastor in charge of the church program that fed Amy and Kimberly their latest meal, Lucy sets them up in temporary housing and gives her a lead on...

Reverend Analiese Wagner's judgment is called into question when she steps in to help a homeless family. Then Isaiah Colburn, the Catholic priest who was her mentor, reappears in her life, torn between the priesthood and his desire for a future with her. Analiese now must answer the question of how to define her own happiness.

"A massive storm was coming straight for Mama's little plot of land in the Mississippi Delta and there was no way any of them could outrun the weather. For three years Melody Mahaffey has been on the road, touring as a keyboardist with a terrible Christian pop band she can hardly stand. So when her mother calls, full of her usual dire news and dramatic pronouncements, Melody is relieved to pack her bags and call it quits. But at the sprawling, defunct...