Steel Magnolias with Mormon characters, Uncut Diamonds celebrates family– the ordinary, the outrageous, the comical and the tragic.
A young Mormon couple seeks balance during the over-the-top decade of the seventies. Gold medallions, disco dancing, Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever are all the rage. Jimmy Carter is President during a frightening recession, with fuel bills higher than house payments. In the heartland of America, Marcie and Shawn McGill, struggle to save their home, family and marriage. During these uncertain times, they come to learn what matters most.
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REVIEWS:
“Uncut Diamonds is a story about family, about choices, about a woman who is still young but has big adult responsibilities. It’s also about being Mormon. There’s an honesty in Uncut Diamonds. Marcie is an open book. When things get bad she doesn’t hold back. She yells, throws pots and pans, screams to get what she needs to make her family survive. When things are good, her heart opens up and wisdom flows, inviting all to heal. It’s a revelation of character and true growth. This is a touching book. . .I found myself not being able to put it down, and was sad at the appearance of the last page.” Amy Saia, author, The Soul Seekers
“When the story begins, Jimmy Carter is president, the Vietnam War hasn’t ended, the country is in a frightening recession, and mortgage rates are escalating. Against this backdrop, Marcie and Shawn, who want many children, are struggling to raise a family. The author has a strong command of the language. Dialogue is especially good. The characters are people I know and can relate to. I especially like the juxtaposition of the grandparents’ lives in an earlier time with Marcie’s life in the seventies; a grandmother who lived through the Dust Bowl days in Nebraska. Scenes are lucid and crisply written. The only difficulty for readers who aren’t Mormons would be the cultural terminology, but there’s a glossary for such readers.” Ann Carbine Best, author, In the Mirror: A Memoir of Shattered Secrets
“Set in the Mid-West of the 1970s, Marcie is real, not glamorous, not rich and not perfect. She loses her temper, she cries and she laughs. Marcie is someone to identify with. Rising above her difficulties with the great courage few young mothers including Marcie credits themselves with.” Ann Ormond Fennell, author, blogger
“I just loved the central character, Marcie. She was a young mother, trying to do her best for her family but who often was overwhelmed by life – like the rest of us. I loved the spirituality that was an integral part of this Mormon family’s life. It was a book that certainly resonated with me and had many similarities to Ireland in the 70′s when the church played a huge role in family life. Ultimately this is a story full of light and redemption as the family finds help in all kinds of unexpected places. It highlights the live that binds families together even when on the surface there may be arguments and tensions.” Barbara Scully, author, blogger
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