Texas transplant Kelsey McKinney takes on church politics and complicated family dynamics in her powerful first novel, God Spare the Girls. Pastor's daughter Caroline Nolan has mostly been content growing up in the shadow of her adored big sister, Abigail, and their charismatic father, Luke. But as Caroline's high school graduation approaches, she feels a tug toward a different life than the ones mapped out for women in her conservative North Texas town. When the news breaks that Luke has been having an affair--weeks before Abigail's wedding--the girls retreat to their grandmother's ranch to process their father's betrayal and figure out what to do next.
McKinney sensitively portrays the complex bond between the sisters: shiny, perfect Abigail, engaged to a man Caroline secretly suspects is the wrong one, and Caroline, always a little more awkward and less polished, but desperate truly to connect with her sister. As the days tick toward Abigail's wedding, Caroline begins to question many things she has always taken for granted: her father's integrity, the importance of remaining a virgin until marriage, even the notion that type-A Abigail truly has all the answers. The sisters grapple with a number of family secrets (and blazing summer heat) as the church debates whether to reinstate Luke as pastor. Not all of the questions McKinney raises are resolved neatly; rather, the novel's strength lies in its note-perfect depiction of conservative white Bible Belt church culture, and what happens when that culture's image of perfection clashes with reality. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams