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"Tragedy and blessing. Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart."
Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the deadly fire she accidentally set as a child, to her mother's abandonment, and now to an unwanted pregnancy, she knows better than most that small actions can have terrible consequences. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado by her latest bad decision, she's intent on putting off the future. Perhaps there she can just hide in her grandmother's isolated cabin and wait for something–anything–to make her next choice for her.
Instead, she is confronted by reflections of her own troubles wherever she turns–the recent widower and his two children adrift in a changed world, Elena's own mysterious family history, and the interwoven lives within the town itself. Bit by bit, Elena begins to question her understanding of cause and effect, reexamining the tragedies she's held on to and the wounds she's refused to let heal.
But when the children go missing, Elena's fragile new peace is shattered. It's only at the prospect of fresh loss and blame that she will discover the truth of the terrible burdens we take upon ourselves, the way tragedy and redemption are inevitably intertwined–and how curses can sometimes lead to blessings, however disguised.
"Catts's sincere tale of redemption, set in the late 1970s, is steeped in yearning for a communal-spirited heartland America where neighbors pitched in when a youngster's welfare was at stake and 'buffet items constituted big decisions.' ... [Catts] lures the reader toward her sentimental denouement with the assurance of a seasoned storyteller and a radar-like feel for the pull and push of parent and offspring." —New York Times
"This uplifting novel ... is about overcoming adversity and finding one's path–even if it's unconventional." —Booklist
"Margo Catts's compassionate observation of human nature shines through in her unforgettable characters, as she immerses the reader in lives that are torn by tragedy, challenged, and changed. This is a finely crafted and uplifting novel full of warmth, wisdom, and generosity of spirit." —Judith Allnatt, author of The Silk Factory
"I didn't want the story to end, even as I was desperate to know what would happen next." —Tiffany Quay Tyson, author of Three Rivers
This information about Among the Lesser Gods was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Margo Catts grew up in Los Angeles and has since lived in Utah, Indiana, and Colorado. After raising three children in the U.S., she and her husband moved to Saudi Arabia, where her Foreign Girl blog was well known in the expat community. Originally a freelance editor for textbooks and magazines, she has also done freelance writing for business, technical, and advertising clients, all the while working on her fiction. She is a contributing author to Once Upon an Expat. Among the Lesser Gods is her first novel. She now lives in Denver, Colorado.
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Two ambitious writers in 1960s LA face betrayal when one writes a novel based on the other's life.
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