Kathy

Firefly Hollow Essentials - Book Two

Three years ago, Kathy Browning’s husband took everything from her—her children, her body, and very nearly her life. Her family considered it a miracle that she survived. Kathy isn’t so sure about that. Most days, it feels like a punishment.

Now, she's in Savannah with her mother, six hundred miles away from Kentucky. She’s gotten very good at pretending things are fine when they’re anything but. In limbo, lost in the fog of grief and guilt, she’s forced to decide if she’s strong enough to try to live again. Recovery is a job she isn’t sure she’s qualified to take on, but the other option would destroy the people she loves.

Charles Kelly has spent his life amongst people who bury what hurts to keep the surface smooth. When he encounters Kathy on the beach, he recognizes what she is doing—his own father made that final choice, and the family called it an accident.

What starts as one man refusing to look away becomes something neither of them expected, and neither believes they have earned. But moving forward means facing an agonizing question: is letting herself be happy a betrayal of the children she couldn't save?

Kathy is the second book in the Firefly Hollow series, an Appalachian family saga.

Content note: This book deals frankly with the aftermath of domestic violence, the murder of children, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation. Kathy's recovery is the story; her trauma is not depicted for effect, but it is not softened.