Maggie
Charles Martin
WestBow, Sep 2006, $14.99
ISBN: 1595540556

Maggie wanted children in the worst way especially after she had a stillborn and fell into a four month coma. Once she recovers her health, she and husband Dylan try the adoption route, but the interviewers conclude they might not be good candidates. Even though a fertility specialist insists her chances of conceiving at probably zero, she becomes pregnant.

One day Dylan comes home to see their house torn up and his wife beaten and bleeding. She miscarries leaving her extremely depressed. However, her troubles have just begun. Arsonists destroy their home and that of their next door best friends too. Three convicts have come to Digger looking to get even with Father John for turning state evidence against them when he was younger, willful, and hung with them. Their devastation impact the relationship between Maggie and Dylan, who will need divine intervention for their marriage to survive.

MAGGIE is a haunting and moving tale about a couple, who due to misfortune and bad luck, find their marriage collapsing with the only tenuous tie left being their deep love for one another,. Readers will empathize with Maggie who bears more than her reasonable share of troubles and will understand why she emotionally pulls away from her beloved Dylan. She intellectually knows her spouse is a good man who has stood by his "Maggs" and has tried to help her through her despondency and grief, but may have hit the wall with her rejection of him. Though the convicts seem over the top adding pain to an already battered lead duo, fans will appreciate this unforgettable character study with its deep message of hold on to the love even when darkness engulfs every cell of your body.

Harriet Klausner