The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman

THE REDEMPTION OF CARALYNNE HAYMAN

Winner of the 2015 USA BEST BOOKS AWARD!

A Christian Small Publishers Association 
Winner in General Fiction for 2015

A Laurel Award Finalist,
A Selah Award Finalist,
A Genesis semi-finalist,
a . . .

and an . . .

Now available in audio book!


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The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman




About the book:

How far would YOU go to avenge the murder of a daughter?

Caralynne Hayman is angry and bitter over the abuse and death of her eleven-year-old daughter from the hands of her religious group, The Children of Righteous Cain. When her husband suffers a sudden heart attack, she does nothing to help him. In her eyes someone needs to pay, and if that means all of the men in the group, then so be it.

Dayne MacFarland is sent away to college by the senior elder of the group to learn ministry. When he returns after finding salvation, determined to bring the truth to the people he’s known all his life, he rediscovers Cara and realizes the love he once felt for her is still deeply embedded within his heart.

Dayne faces men unwilling to turn their backs on the cult training he despises. Cara faces men who follow their leader in abuse toward their wives and the young girls of the group. Cara is considered rebellious and inappropriate to befriend. Dayne is the apple of Elder Simmons’ eye—until he takes a stand against their teachings.

Can Cara overcome the feelings that have governed her most of her life? Can she learn to trust Dayne, and most of all a God whom she sees as uncaring—if he’s really there at all? Only Dayne’s prayers and love can reach Cara and show her the way to redemption, and Cara must recognize and accept God’s love and forgiveness before she goes too far.

Read the First Page! 



The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman

Chapter One
Twenty years earlier

The shadow creatures on the wall shook their wings and legs. Heads with horns nodded. Scary, dark faces watched.

The little girl clasped her floppy-eared rabbit against her chest and stared into the dark.

“Mmm …” Mommy’s murmur reached to her through the walls, and the giggles from her mother tiptoed in, shooing away the fear.

Whoosh. She blew out a breath and squeezed her rabbit tighter. “Mommy has a friend with her, Ramsey. She loves me just like I love you and will give me hugs in the morning after the man leaves.”

Ramsey said nothing. She ran her fingers over his face and could feel his black button eyes staring at her, trusting her to protect him.

“And she’ll read to us, and I’ll sit on her lap and we’ll snuggle—all of us together.” She nodded and tugged on Ramsey’s left ear. She rolled over.

Real live whispers and laughter floated into the room. Opening her mouth in a wide yawn, she patted Ramsey’s tummy and whispered again, “Don’t be afraid. I’m right here.”

“Please. That hurts.”

“Mommy?” The little girl frowned but her eyes wouldn’t open. Just like when she and Mommy put cucumbers slices on their eyes.

“Stop it—”

Rubbing at her eyes, the little girl sat up. Mommy had never sounded like this before, and neither had any of the men—the men who brought flowers and candy and money. 

Novel Background:

It's a funny thing: imagination and where it will take you.

Dan, my husband, came up with the idea for the plot of The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman. Because we like to keep up with various current events throughout the country, awhile back, the cult news in Texas caught our eyes and we began a "what-if" session.

• What if there was a cult?
• What kind of odd and sometimes scary habits could the cult exhibit?
• What if the protagonist was a woman--a strong woman who fought against the cult?
• What could possibly give a woman the courage to fight against this cult?

And so the story was born.

Some of the problems I needed to be careful of:

• I had to develop the Caralynne character angry and bitter enough to cause havoc yet write her as a sympathetic, likeable person to the reader. If the story was to work, doing this was a have-to
• Research was vital. Three of the things I checked on were: 

poisons
electrical tools
tattoos

• Keeping track of ages was a biggie. Countless times I changed the age of different characters. The timeline had to be right for everything to come together correctly.
• Another item that took care was the Elder Simmons character. He was/is so evil, so obnoxious, it was difficult deciding on one "good" trait within him. It would have been easy to not allow him even one. But I did.
• The last thing I'll mention is similiar to Number four. Although the cult is wicked and seriously lacking in true biblical doctrine, and the men are cruel and abusive, I showed them as good providers of the home and hard workers.

And the Answer to the Sixty-four Dollar Question 

everyone's asking:

Is there a sequel to

The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman?

The Answer:

In the works.

Plotting 

Soon.

Yes.

~ ~ ~

And as a SIDE NOTE: 

In the Companion book to 

The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, 

called 

West Virginia Scrapbook: The Life of Caralynne Hayman, 

you can learn more about 

* The Children of Righteous Cain, the cult. 
*  Use the Discussion questions for the novel in your 
book groups, church groups, etc.

* There is also a short narrative of Dayne and Cara's early years, 
*  information about West Virginia, 
*  fun facts, 

*  quotes and 
* sayings, 
* and a few recipes.

Get it here:

amzn.to/1i38uiG