Making Manna by Eric Lotke

Libby finds herself in an impossible situation at home.  She's pregnant and having a baby at fourteen.  Her mother is demanding to know who the father is.  Libby won't tell.  When the baby is born, her mother understands why she wouldn't say.  He's the spitting image of her husband...

PR by the Book gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It has been published and you can pick up a copy at Amazon now.

Libby goes to sleep after the labor, exhausted from the effort.  When she awakens her baby is not there.  Her father has set him outside in a bin to die from exposure.  Libby and her baby escape the house but not before she dumps hot stew on her sleeping father.

Libby doesn't look back.  She's got good enough luck to get a ride from a trucker and she finds a woman she can room with and work with for some money of her own.  She names her baby Angel.

Just when things are looking real positive, the police come and take away Sheila and her husband Zeb for drug dealing.  They weren't but they still end up in jail.  So Libby is left with the apartment and Sheila's daughter and her son.  A scheming attorney talks her into selling the apartment so he can defend the two in jail.  He just pockets the money.  He makes an appearance but he's no help.

At this point, some people would despair.  Libby just pulls herself together and works more than one job.  She doesn't give up and she doesn't look back.

As Angel grows, he wonders about his relatives, why he doesn't have a birth certificate and why they can't visit the graves of their dead.  His mom doesn't give him many answers.  Then, one day, he answers the phone thinking someone will be ordering his homemade bread.  It's Libby's mother.  She was never really dead.

This book is filled with trauma and decisions that have far reaching effects.  Angel is almost too good to be true.  Libby is a very strong young woman who keeps her young son alive and well.  Her friends are true friends.  For a story that started out with an awful beginning, it has a good ending.  If you're ready for drama, this is a good read.