The Enlightenment of Angeline

Book excerpt: "I should explain a bit, lest you think that I just despise my children for no good reason." - Angeline. Angeline Sims is no shrinking violet. She's tough, opinionated, bossy, and she's got a bone to pick with nearly everyone in her life.Set in the fictitious Eastern North Carolina small town of Shelbington, Angeline has been given a terminal diagnosis, with mere months left to live. Upon learning of this news, her adult children and grandchildren come home for one last visit. There is no love lost between any of the family members, and they all have secrets that they voluntarily or involuntarily reveal throughout the course of the novel, culminating in an explosive family dinner at which the biggest bombshells are dropped. Told in first-person narratives by the main protagonist and other characters, the story uses humor to touch on a number of hot-button issues, from race relations and racial profiling to LGBTQ issues, to the #MeToo movement, and to the subjugation of religion for profit. As Bette Davis once said in the 1950 movie All About Eve, "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night!"