Spite the Devil
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"Well, bullshit to you, too," I said to the young man sitting next to me. Which was probably not a good idea, because we were in church at the time. Worse yet, I was the minister's wife. But consider the provocation. The wedding had been lovely, until then. Of course, it should have been, because no amount of premarital counseling from Dan had succeeded in persuading Marty Graham that the wedding ceremony was not the high point of her life with Steve. She had spent months planning the affair, and today every daydream of her lifetime was, at last, fleshed out in excruciating detail. After this wedding, the marriage was bound to be an anticlimax.
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About the Book
Simple life in small-town America collides with the cultural realities of the 1980s in Spite the Devil, a novel of conflict and hope. Elinor and her husband, Dan, a Lutheran minister, confront racism and religious uncertainty as they deal with the changes that life brings to their faith. Does tragedy destroy faith? Is bitterness inevitable? Their comfortable existence explodes when the turmoil of modern American life invades Evittsburg and forces them to face new and painful truths. Racial tensions strain relationships to the breaking point, and religious differences threaten to tear families apart. Elinor’s whimsical perspective cushions misfortune until she faces the one blow that even humor cannot soften. Daughters Grace and Joy pursue their own paths, coloring their parents’ lives with laughter and discord. Grace’s interracial marriage to Doug creates disturbing tensions, which involve Doug’s enigmatic father, Robey, and their teenage son, Gil, Golden Gil, who dances across the pages with wit and a worrisome innocence. With insight, humor, and compassion, McDaniel builds genuine suspense to a shattering climax, and then finds a certain peace in the conviction that death is not the end.
About the Author
Maude Aurand McDaniel, born in Wheeling, West Virginia, holds degrees in Sociology from Gettysburg College and Seminary. Widow of a Lutheran minister, McDaniel has written for The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Milwaukee Journal, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Bookpage. She lives on a mountainside in Western Maryland.