Acts of Contrition, Jennifer Handford
Acts of Contrition, Jennifer Handford
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Acts of Contrition

Author: Jennifer Handford

Narrator: Tanya Eby, Christopher Lane

Unabridged: 7 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 04/15/2014

Categories: Fiction, Family Life, Women


Synopsis

Mary Morrissey is living the life of her dreams. She has a loving husband of ten years, Tom, two daughters, and twin boys. Her parents are just down the road. Her three sisters are nearby. Perfect—some might even say she is living the American Dream.But beneath the shiny veneer, Mary hasn’t taken a calm breath in years. She lives in a constant state of panic, afraid that the secret she’s kept hidden for so long will be revealed, that it will shatter the life she’s worked so hard to build.When Mary’s handsome and addictively charismatic ex-boyfriend Landon James reappears during his high profile Senate campaign, she feels the truth bubbling to the surface and knows she’s powerless to stop it. Mary has spent years trying to forget him, and now he’s on every TV she sees.A conditional Catholic, Mary bargains with God, negotiating deals that will keep her happy life undisturbed for another day. She prays for strength and confesses her sins—anything that might let her sleep at night under the weight of the guilt she carries from lying to her husband and family for the entirety of her marriage.When Tom learns what Mary’s been hiding, what once seemed unfathomable—a deep, heartbreaking divide between them—is now their new normal. Can they find a way to rebuild their life together? Is forgiveness possible?Acts of Contrition is a richly drawn story of faith, family loyalty, and forgiveness, even in the face of moral ambiguity, guilt, and shattered trust.

About Jennifer Handford

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Jennifer Handford now lives in the Washington, DC, area with her husband and three children. One of three first-place finalists in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest in 2010, Jennifer published her first novel, Daughters for a Time, in 2012. People hailed it as “a wrenching, resonant debut about infertility, cancer, and adoption. Grab your hankies." She is currently a professor of writing at American University


Reviews

Goodreads review by Laura on March 29, 2014

I will be nice and say 2.5-3 But honestly I did not like this book. It was cold, clinical a mother trying to right a wrong that was done years ago. Yet she was punishing herself by not allowing her husband to love her and making deals with priests. This could of been a great story. I didn't like how......more

Goodreads review by Judy on April 18, 2014

Mary is a very likeable character, a strong protagonist readers will relate to, as she is the perfect wife and mother of two daughters and twin sons. She is real and flawed. She loves her family and everything it stands for; she has values and morals. Even before she married at age thirty, an attorn......more

Goodreads review by Faith on December 11, 2014

Family secrets…everyone’s got them. The secrets we keep can either tear our families apart or bind us together. For Mary Morrissey the coin has been tossed and she’s been waiting for over a decade to see which side it will land on. “I’ve made my family a happy home, but it was a house built with stol......more

Goodreads review by Dee on June 24, 2015

Mixed Feelings A good character study, though I would have preferred it to be less preachy. I find it lacks sufficient insight into the psychological damage and risk a woman causes herself by having a long-term, involved relationship without her partner showing a willingness to commit.......more

Goodreads review by Gary on February 09, 2017

I loved this book and read it in just a few days. I'll definitely check out her other novels, depending on their subject matter. It was refreshing to read someone who has at least a sympathetic view of faith and church. Great characterization, great food for thought, accurate portrayal of some of th......more


Quotes

“Jennifer Handford’s Acts of Contrition smartly imagines the inner life of a wife and mother caught in the cogs of a political scandal. A powerfully intimate tale that illuminates how our past relationships mold and transform us into who we become.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence, These Things Hidden, and One Breath Away“This swift, satisfying read...is like perching at the kitchen counter with your best girlfriend and best bottle of red—provided your BFF is a D.C.-area mom who’s a riveting storyteller.” People magazine