Bitterroot Landing

Jael hears voices. Some are real, like the voices of the others in her incest-survivor group, or the homeless woman she meets at the laundry. Some are more mysterious, like the Virgin Mary's. Jael was born into a hard life, but she's a survivor, growing stronger all the time. Waiting for the day when the only voice she needs is her own.

So I was a ward of the court, and I slept on a cot in the basement of the Pentecostal church until old River Bill, a recently widowed deacon, offered to take...