No Other Gods by Margaret Ward

No Other Gods Synopsis When nineteen-year-old Marie Kinsley’s husband Leroy throws her from the car, she takes it as a matter of course, no more and no less than she deserves. Fate lands her in the parking lot of a church, where Pastor Jim and his wife Susan race her to the hospital. Leroy is arrested and imprisoned for a year while Marie begins her long road to recovery, helped by friends like Grace Graham, the former Director of the Women’s Abuse Center, Kimberly, a flower shop owner who gives Marie her first job, and Helen, a fellow battered woman who is escaping an abusive husband. With their guidance and love, Marie begins to learn that she has worth and that she is stronger than she ever knew. Alone in his jail cell, Leroy faces a similar transition: he can either wallow in his own misery or work to improve his situation and learn that he, too, has value. Bob, a kindly jailer, and Mark, a prison minister, help him along the way, encouraging to earn his GED and complete anger management and community service requirements for his release. Though their roads have diverged and they spend a long, lonely year apart, each spends the time in growth and reflection, learning to embrace both themselves and God. No Other Gods is the story of how two wayward lovers grow and learn as they navigate a world filled with pitfalls and stumbling blocks—often of their own design.