Keener's uneven second novel (after The Killing Tree
) is the soapy story of Hannah, raised by “holy rollers,” and the illegitimate daughter she is forced to abandon. When Hannah is a teenager, her parents move her and her adopted sister to James Island, S.C., where Hannah relishes her one freedom—exploring the island on the bike her father gives her. One day, while out on a ride, she sees a help-wanted sign for a cleaning lady at a motel. There, she meets the handsome Sam, a local football hero, but he's predictably full of empty promises and leaves Hannah pregnant and heartbroken, her pain compounded by her mother forcing her to give the baby away. Her daughter, Angel, faces torments of her own: raised in a broken home that she eventually torches, Angel is as lost as her mother. Though Keener tries hard to dig deep into her two protagonists as they meander toward reunion, Hannah and Angel never escape their clichéd circumstances. Still, like any cheesy drama, it will be difficult to put down by some. (Mar.)
