The River Caught Sunlight

Janice Westfahl's career is on fire, and she is offered a dream job at Godspeed Books, a small evangelical publisher outside of Chicago. But before she leaves her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her beloved farmer, the love of her life, asks her to marry him. In the end her love of God and books trumps wins out, so she move to her new life with eyes wide open and the highest of hopes.

But her dream job is not as she expected, and eventually Janice questions her work with Jeremiah Sackfield, a radical right wing activist who toys with revolution. She begins to feel like a whore promoting a cause she doesn't believe in. Meanwhile her brother has stayed home with their dying mother, and is furious with Janice and jealous of her freedom. When their father dies, they must settle the estate amidst the fireworks of their jealousy.

The Sackfields espouse Biblical bigotry and pretend to be patriots who openly revolt in favor of what they see is God's way. Janice eventually discovers that when you bed down a god, the barns burn. The only question was would she burn as well.

Katie Andraski worked for several years as a publicist in Christian publishing where she convinced editors at Newsweek, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Moody, and Christianity Today to publicize her company and authors. She has an MFA from the University of Arkansas. Her collection of poetry, When the Plow Cuts, was published in 1988 by Thorntree Press. She currently teaches composition at Northern Illinois University. She lives on a farm with her husband Bruce, two dogs, two horses, a flock of chickens and one not so feral cat.