Summer Reading Selection-Mercury-A Novel-Amy Jo Burns-Chapter 1

[Donna]

Hi everyone,

Our first Book club+ MPC summer selection is "Mercury-A Novel by Amy Jo Burns. We hope you will join us for this exciting book. If not, please let us know what you are reading and stay in touch with us online. Read at your own pace, any chapter. Join in the discussions when you are able to. There is no pressure.

This book takes place in the 1990s. Seventeen year-old Marley West arrives in Mercury Pennsylvania and encounters the Joseph brothers, roofers. A family in need of guidance and leadership. Marley marries one and soon becomes the mother figure to them all. A strange discovery in a church attic, disrupts the whole town and family. Will new revelations destroy this family? Can Marley hold this family together? What will happen? Join us and find out!

Chapter 1
Waylon Joseph was dreading having to share bank news with his wife, Marley. They were at the baseball diamond, watching their son play. Waylon was reflecting on his life, his struggles, his life regrets, the disappointments from family. As Waylon watched his son play ball, he recalled his dad not watching him play. He thought about not wanting to be like his dad, he would be there for his son, somehow, that promise didn't happen.

Waylon suddenly heard the payphone ring and that usually meant a phone call from his brother to help fix a problem that their dad had created. Mick Joseph was the father of the Joseph family, a war vet. A vet with many problems that Waylon had to try and find a solution for. Waylon ignored the phone ringing and brought his mind back to the baseball game. He finally picked up the phone. He met his brother Baylor at the Presbyterian church. There was a roof leak that needed fixing. Inspecting the church roof for the leak, Waylon, Baylor and Lennox the pastor discovered a body. Waylon was sick to his stomach...

The Joseph family has a history and they are struggling. In a family of men, Marley has married into a family that clearly needs her structured leadership to help guide them. Mick Joseph is the father Waylon did not want to become, but believe he is. Can Marley save these men and preserve this family? Does Marley have the courage to keep her marriage to Waylon together? Baylor and Waylon have discovered a body at the church. What will this discovery mean to them? to this town and church? Who is the mystery body? What happened? The Joseph roofing business is in trouble. Is this family capable of saving it? What if they can't? If the business is finished, is this the end of their family as well? Do you think Marley will continue to be the savior of this family or will someone else from the Joseph family come forward and surprise us all?

Let us know what you think so far? There are many questions, past and present of the Joseph family and mystery that needs to be solved. Read with us as we find out more about this family.

Have a good day.

Sincerely,

-Donna