Synopsis
A shattered cup. Cheap tea. Bitter voices asking what's to be done with the "little eejit." Mary, an impetuous Irishwoman, won't face the haunting memories--until her daughter's crisis propels her back to County Clare.
There, in a rocky cliffside home, Mary learns from former neighbors why God tore her from Ireland forty-five years earlier. As she begins to glimpse His sovereign plan, Mary is finally able to bury a dysfunctional past and begin to heal. Irish folk songs and sayings add color to the narrative
Author
In 1955, a lovely woman named Ann Qualls gave birth to a feisty and bald infant in the front seat of her husband Bucky's Buick. By pure coincidence, Ann claims, their daughter was named Patti Day Qualls, PDQ. The Quallses set up housekeeping in Martin Hall, the boys athletic dormitory at Baylor University, where Patti adopted 200 kinda brothers who taught her magic tricks and set her imagination aflame with wild stories.
This moniker has served Patti well, as she's moved at least ten times, traveled to forty states, and changed occupations with a liberality unusual in native Texans. Though Patti's only been writing since 2005, she thinks her latest profession of capturing stories on paper (or computer files) will stick awhile.
The Still, Small Voice encouraged Patti to write after a brave Irish friend shared memories of betrayal and her decision to forgive. In 2008, An Irishwoman’s Tale was published by Kregel Publications. Patti’s second novel, What the Bayou Saw, draws on the memories of two young girls who refused to let segregation, a chain link fence, and a brutal rape come between them.
The secrets women keep and why they keep them continue to enliven Patti's gray matter. A third book, My Name is Sheba, has been completed. Patti's WIP, Recapturing Lily, documents a tug-of-war between a Harvard-educated doctor and an American pastor and his wife for a precious child and explores adoption issues, China's "One Child" policy, and both Christian and secular views of sacrifice.
Patti also facilitates writing seminars in schools, libraries, and at conferences and has been called to present her testimony, "All the Broken Pieces," at women's retreats. She also leads a Beth Moore Bible study at her beloved Grace Church and has had a blast planning the September 2009 wedding of her firstborn, Sarah.
Patti and her husband Alan, an Illinois State faculty member, live in Normal with their handsome son Thomas, who attends Heartland Community College. On sunny evenings, you can catch the three strolling the streets of Normal with their dog Laura, whom they've dubbed a "Worchestershire Terrier" for her "little dab of this breed, a little dab of that breed."
My Faith
God gifted me with Christian parents who proclaimed the gospel of Christ Jesus, tucked me in with Bible stories, and woke me with a prayer on their lips. I accepted Christ at the age of twelve and was baptized in a Southern Baptist church in Monroe, Louisiana.
During my teenage years, I veered away from my Savior and chose to live to please myself. For years, I became mired in a cycle of repentance and regression. I had to experience both physical and mental struggles to come to a place where I could declare God as sovereign and allow His Holy Spirit to begin the miraculous process of sanctification on my life. Through God's Word, the Holy Bible, and God's gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ, I can live assured of God's promises and have the hope of heaven.
