Pocketful of Pearls

by Shelley Bates

Book Overview

"This affecting story ... rips away hypocrisy and replaces it with trust." - Booklist. "Christianity's cutting-edge new author Shelley Bates tackles tough subjects." - Romantic Times Book Club... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446694916
• ISBN13: 9780446694919
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Faithwords
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.9" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A gem!!

This book was an absolute treat!! I got so wrapped up in the story that I didn't even stop to eat!! The author makes the world of The Elect so real and you empathize with the main character so strongly. Didn't realize this was part of a series and so am looking foward to reading the other books!!

A believable, uplifting story of a Christian cult that you don't want to miss!

Shelley Bates has a fantastic way of getting deep into the sludge of apostate and deceptive Christianity (Cults) and addressing the hard-core issues in a non-offensive way that can also be extremely uplifting. Without going into the details of the story, from the very first page, I found myself connected in a deep way to the heroine, Dinah, as she battles a life-long indoctrination in a toxic church and begins to see sparks of light and truth dawn on the darkness. Her relationship with the hero, Matthew is believable and handled with care under the circumstances of the abuse Dinah has had to endure. The ending is satisfying and encouraging. This is definitely a page-turner that will give you a great understanding of the true love and grace of God.

This story is priceless...and the title is SO perfect and symbolic

I don't like to tip off the reader by telling the entire story in advance, or there is no point in reading the book. But I will say this... Be prepared for a page turner when you pick up this novel. It isn't a warm-and-fuzzy feel-good read, but it is powerful and will make your heart swell to unbelievable proportions as you rejoice and cry with the heroine. (Can you tell I write fiction, LOL!) Also, the author's ability to lure the reader into the mind of someone raised in a cult is SO on target. I've worked with abused women for nearly 18 years and I can tell you for certain that she has the internal thoughts and struggles of the victim down to a science. What can I say? I REALLY loved this story. Unlike most novels dealing with the harsh subject of childhood abuse, Pocketful of Pearls offers the reader grit, but served with a whole lot of bravery and hope. The characters are realistic and not super-human, yet strong in their own ways. This is a must read for people who want to get sucked into a novel and experience emotion by traveling the journey with the hero and heroine. Great plotting, too. I can't say enough wonderful things about this story. Again, I won't destroy it by sharing too many details, but rather than being a depressing story, Pocketful of Pearls is a healing one.

A Priceless Pearl of a Novel

Very few Christian authors would take on the subject of a "toxic church" and its affects. In her first novel, Grounds to Believe, Shelley Bates lays the groundwork for this, letting the reader interface as outsiders into this strange world of the Elect. In her second novel, A Pocketful of Pearls, the reader feels each sharp pain of the heroine, Dinah, as if they themselves were enmeshed in the tight web of the Elect. This is a gripping novel which is difficult to put down; have kleenex ready as you cheer on the heroine's brave attempts to right her world. And look forward to A Sounding Brass, the last novel in the trilogy. Absolutely tightly written prose, emotional and fulfilling, so don't miss any book in this series!

A vivid story about the distinctions between a religious life and a true relationship with Christ

In the opening pages of POCKETFUL OF PEARLS, Dinah Traynell and over 100 mourners are dressed in black for the funeral of Dinah's father. These people don't wear black just for funerals; they wear black as a part of their religious group, The Elect. The reader enters Dinah's controlled world and the high expectations for behavior of every aspect of her life. Yet something isn't right from the beginning chapter when Dinah slips away to the family barn and vomits her supper to expose her bulimia. This closed culture around a small town, Hamilton Falls in Washington State, begins to change with an act of kindness to a stranger, Dr. Matthew Nicholas. Like any homeless man, Nicholas, actually a former university literature professor, knocks on the Traynell backdoor and asks for some food. Dinah decides to feed him a day later to hire him to help with work around the farm. The Traynell family is one of the "favored" families in this culture, which means the Shepherd for the flock, Phinehas, often visits the home and stays the night. These visits from Phinehas trigger Dinah's. Under the cloak of spiritual leadership, Phinehas has consistently sexually abused Dinah since she was fourteen. The life and the secrecy are frightening and Dinah feels like she can't escape. "After ten years, she [Dinah] still marveled --- in a faint, homeless kind of way --- that no one knew. She had kept their little secret. The ugliness. The pain and degradation. All were locked inside her body with no way out. No way to ask for help. And so. Of course, no one saw --- or wanted to see. No one cared. Not even God." When Dinah's younger sister becomes pregnant, Tamela is "Silenced" so that no one in the Elect can speak to her for seven years. She leaves the community and has her baby. Suddenly Tamela arrives at the family home with her four-month-old child, Tamsen, and leaves the baby in Dinah's care. Eventually the story reveals that Phinehas is the father of Tamela's child. Later, Dinah learns that Phinehas is more than her sexual abuser. Her mother, Elsie, reveals that the "Shepherd" is Dinah's father. Years earlier, this spiritual leader abused Elsie and she became pregnant with Dinah. The information helps Dinah understand why Elsie's husband allowed Phinehas's continual sexual abuse pattern. Matthew Nicholas looks homeless but he's actually fleeing a false sexual abuse charge from a student at his university in California. Ultimately he is proven innocent and begins a walking trip. On the trip, Matthew is robbed of his possessions and becomes homeless when he meets Dinah. Early on in the story, Dinah grows discouraged with life and decides to end her life by drowning in a nearby river. Matthew follows and rescues Dinah. The experience forms a bond of trust, so she confides in him and reveals a part of the culture and lifestyle that no one has ever known. The new relationship gives Dinah someone to help her understand her world and escape the rigid culture. Matthew b