Macmillan Children’s Books

ISBN 9781529 075632

I've never before dared to write about the thing dominated our family life – the powerful, evangelical religion that bound us to each other and to the small Brethren meeting to which we belonged. It's taken more courage than any other book I've written.

     A growing child born into any exclusive and excluding society, whether the restrictions stem from a particular religion or from a traditionally strict culture, must face a choice. Will they stay within the world in which they grew up, embrace it fully and pass it on to their own children? Will they rebel, break out and risk losing the love and support of their home and family?

     If they are fortunate, as I was, to have loving, understanding parents, they may find a third way. They may be able with gentle steps to move away from their tight, restricting circle into a more open and accepting view of society and the world. They might be able to retain the best of the values their parents taught them, and to continue, in an open minded way, to go on pondering the great mysteries which religious teachers, artists and many scientists try to solve, while laying aside rigid, excluding beliefs and ideas.

     This is the story of Charity Brown.