From "stunningly talented storyteller and wordsmith" Mary DeMuth comes the powerful conclusion to the Defiance, Texas trilogy (Susan Meissner). In a town she personifies, Ouisie Pepper wrestles with her own defiance. Desperate to become the wife and mother her husband, Hap, demands, she clings to a simple book about womanhood--striving, failing, and trying again. But beneath her pursuit of self-improvement lies a terrible secret: she knows who killed Daisy Chance. As her children inch closer to the truth and Hap's rages grow more violent, Ouisie faces an impossible choice. Will she finally break her silence to protect her family? Or will fear keep her bound, even as the cost of secrecy threatens to destroy them all? With its gripping tension and deeply moving themes, Life in Defiance is a haunting yet hopeful story about the power of truth, the price of silence, and the courage it takes to break free. " Life in Defiance will stir up emotions of anger, and forgiveness. It will disturb you. It will enthrall you. It will draw you out and pull you in. And it will fill you with hope. Beautifully written, it's another proof that Mary DeMuth is one of our finest novelists." --James L. Rubart, author of Rooms Enter the world of Defiance, Texas, where secrets fester, redemption waits, and every choice carries the weight of eternity. Other books include Daisy Chain and A Slow Burn . “Life in Defiance will stir up emotions of anger…and forgiveness. It will disturb you. It will enthrall you. It will draw you out and pull you in. And it will fill you with hope. Beautifully written, it’s proof that Mary E. DeMuth is one of our finest novelists.” -- James L. Rubart, Author -- James L. Rubart In a town she personifies, Ouisie Pepper wrestles with her own defiance. Desperate to become the wife and mother her husband Hap demands, Ouisie pours over a simple book about womanhood, constantly falling short, but determined to improve. Through all that self-improvement, Ouisie carries a terrible secret: she knows who killed Daisy Chance. As her children inch closer to uncovering the killer's identity and Hap's rages roar louder and become increasingly violent, Ouisie has to make a decision. Will she protect her children by telling her secret? Or will Hap's violence silence them all? Set on the backdrop of Defiance, Texas, Ouisie's journey typifies the choices we all face--whether to tell the truth about secrets and fight for the truth or bury them forever and live with the violent consequences. Mary DeMuth is the author of several southern novels, including A Slow Burn, Life in Defiance, and the Christy award finalists, Watching the Tree Limbs and Daisy Chain. She’s also written four parenting books and a memoir, Thin Places. She’s passionate about the written word, teaching, and mentoring writers. Mary lives in Texas with her husband, Patrick, and their three children. Life in Defiance By Mary E. DeMuth Zondervan Copyright © 2010 Mary E. DeMuth All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-310-27838-2 Chapter One Defiance, Texas, December 1977 When Hap swift-kicks me in my stomach, the last thing I see is the retreat of one well-polished pastor's shoe. Mama always said you could tell the value of a man by the shine of his shoes. How he treated them reflected how he treated his women, she believed. "If you can find a man with polished shoes, Louise," she told me, "then you'll find the world." The world I find today is a dirt-embedded yellow linoleum floor, no longer reverberating from rushing kids preparing for school. I can't even remember what brought on the kick, what inciting words I said to deserve Hap's rage. I try to stand, but the world twirls around me, nearly the same feeling I get when I drink a little too much, though not nearly as sweet, not as beautiful an escape. I re-taste my breakfast, then swallow it again. I'm terribly good at swallowing things these days-particularly secrets. The children gulp down their share, too. If the church body would dethrone Hap from his pulpited pedestal and truly look him square in the eyes they'd see these secrets, but no one bothers - not even the elders and deacons who actually know more than they let on. So we ingest secrets like gravel, our stomachs distended in the effort, never really feeling fed or alive. But this is not my only secret. A few months ago, someone killed my son Jed's best friend, Daisy Chance. A waif of a girl, thirteen and gangly, and the love of Jed's life, though he wouldn't say such things. And as sure as I know the streets of Defiance, Texas, I know who killed her. Hap believes I'm slow; he doesn't understand the real Ouisie Pepper. When I'm holding my head in our curtained bedroom, convulsing under the spasm of another headache, I think, and remember the man in the woods. You want to know, don't you? You want to know what kind of person would strangle a sweet teenage girl. Isn't it ironic that a woman people pass on the street,