In the Midst of Innocence

Ten-year-old Pearl Wallace is living in the mountains of rural Tennessee in the depths of the Great Depression and several years into Prohibition. She struggles with her moral dilemmas: How much does she need to tithe on the money she has earned from stealing her daddy’s moonshine and selling it? How does she deal with the problems facing her best friend, who happens to be a “white Negro”? And what can she do to protect Darlene from an abusive stepfather?

Meanwhile, Emily Weston, a missionary, has come to “lift the poor hillbillies of the region out of their ignorance and misery.” Coming from a place of affluence and privilege, she is quickly overwhelmed by the social and racial issues facing her students and their families. When murder, fire, and heartbreak threaten those they love, Pearl and Emily must confront the hate and bigotry of their neighbors. Emily’s time in the mountains will be one not of saving souls, but of personal reckoning.

Deborah Hining is proud to be a bone fide hillbilly, having grown up in a very isolated village in the hills of East Tennessee. She earned her B.A. in Communication and M.A. in Theater from the University of Tennessee and her PhD in Theater from Louisiana State University.

From an early age, Deborah wanted to be a poet, and her greatest ambition was to see one of her poems published in a book. Now, after a long and checkered life with many detours, she has realized her ambition, having published two award-winning novels. A Sinner in Paradise won the bronze medal from Foreword Reviews Book of the Year in Romance, and the sequel, A Saint in Graceland, also received the bronze medal for Foreword Reviews Book of the Year in Religion. Both allowed her to indulge her love of poetry.

Deborah now is back to her roots, living on a farm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband, children, and grandchildren.