Honeyed Words and Bitter

Honeyed Words and Bitter is the story of two childhood friends who come of age in the hills of Appalachia and make their way to the pulpit by very different paths, Honey from a family of bootleggers and by way of a season of prostitution and Jimmey through divinity school. When a duplicitous evangelist avails himself of Honey's brothel and convinces her that saving souls is far easier and more lucrative than managing a whorehouse, she gives herself to Jesus during a Pentecost service in a false confession so convincingly acted that no one in the church doubts that they have witnessed a true miracle, God's carving of an apostle from the heart of a whore. Jimmey begins as a devout divinity student but experiences a crisis of faith triggered by his sexually-abused roommate's leap from the chapel bell tower. Though he tries to recover his faith by way of a sojourn in the wilderness and a search for a church that practices a compassionate Christianity, his journey ultimately cripples that bit of faith he's left with.

Jimmey's and Honey's stories continually diverge and reconnect, each the singular anchor in the other's life-until her tragic death leaves Jimmey "To wonder what distant ancestor first looked to the stars and wept and vainly prayed to that fragmented luminance in some proto-lyrical petition, Deliver me from this pain."