"There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus."
So begins the journey through the life and mind of Arlene "Lena" Fleet, Alabama ex-pat living in the Yankee bastion of Chicago.
Lena's life is mixed up, and she isn't as happy as she should be, but she's keeping her end of her bargain with God come Hell or high water. That is until her beau Burr gives her an ultimatum, her Aunt Florence goads her into a road trip she doesn't want to take and Rose-Pop, a face from her past, starts stalking her.
When she finds herself climbing trees, losing the love of her life and acting just a little bit crazy, all to keep a promise she made over a decade before, she knows something has to give. She makes peace with Burr and they embark on the long road home to Alabama.
Once they get back to Lena's home town, her past engulfs her. Her family can't accept the man she loves or the woman she is, and she can't forgive herself or forget her past.
Walking a tightrope between her future and her past has consequences she can't live with. In the end Lena must find a way back to the heart of her home, and room for everyone she loves.
Can Lena find the truth that lies in the heart of a murder gone cold? Will her love find its way within the confines of race and culture? Is her family the core of her heart after all the years of distance and misundertanding?
Only Lena knows what lies in the heart of Alabama.
Tags:gods in alabama joshilyn jackson
