All God’s Kids is a novel for adults. It contains a rape, described without being dwelt on, and it stays with the consequences of that crime for the length of the book. It contains explicit sexual content between consenting adults. It contains strong language, most of it from people who are frightened or furious.
It seemed fairer to put that on the website than to let somebody find out forty pages in.
What it is not
The cover shows three couples outside a church, and some readers will reasonably expect gentle inspirational fiction. It is not that. The church on the cover is the last scene of the book, not the tone of it. What happens between page one and that church is frank, sometimes very funny, and frequently uncomfortable.
The church on the cover is where the book ends. It is not where the book lives.
Equally, it is not a novel that treats sexual violence as entertainment. The attack is short. The aftermath is long. The court, when it finally sits, is unambiguous about where the fault lies, and so is the book.
Who tends to get on with it
Readers who like contemporary British drama with the lid off, money, marriages, work, the neighbours, the bits people do not put on social media. Readers who enjoy a courtroom. Readers who would rather a novel complicated their opinion than confirmed it.
If that is you, the story is waiting. If it is not, no hard feelings, better to know now.
