Forgiveness Road: A Powerful Novel of Compelling Historical Fiction

“A compelling, heart-wrenching story” of three generations of women and the dark secret that upends their lives—from the author of The Last Suppers (The Durango Herald). On a hot, humid July morning, sixteen-year-old Cissy Pickering calmly and deliberately shoots her father in the back. To their Mississippi community, the death of well-regarded attorney Richard Pickering is a fascinating scandal.

To Cissy’s distraught mother, Caroline, it’s an unforgivable crime. But in Cissy’s troubled mind, it was the only way she knew to save her younger sisters, the two people she loves most in the world. Janelle Clayton, the family’s matriarch, has kept her distance from her daughter, Caroline—a fact she now regrets—yet she hopes to do right by her granddaughter, whom she believes implicitly.

When Cissy is remanded to the Greater Mississippi State Hospital, new revelations drive her to retreat from reality. It will fall to Janelle to become Cissy’s advocate and rescuer. And over the course of an unlikely road trip, Janelle and Cissy will confront the truths they’ve hidden from the world and themselves—finding courage, resilience, and a bond tender and tough enough to transform them both.

“Mikulencak tackles the complex ramifications of abuse, from unwanted notoriety to complex questions of who is responsible, with grace and empathy . . Forgiveness Road is haunting and poignant.”

—Booklist Praise for The Last Suppers “Held me riveted from the first page to the last, a gorgeous novel that finds beauty in the most unlikely of places.”—Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author “A haunting study of race relations, compassion, and mystery.