Forgiveness Road

Written by Mandy Mikulencak

Narrated by Amy Landon

To their Mississippi community, the death of well-regarded attorney Richard Pickering is a fascinating scandal. To Cissy's distraught mother, Caroline, it's an unforgivable crime. But in Cissy's troubled mind, killing her father was the only way she knew to save the two people she loves most in the world. For years, Cissy has endured a devil's bargain with her father, hoping that he would leave her younger sisters alone if she kept his abuse to herself. When that thin trust shattered, she saw no other choice.

Janelle Clayton, the family's matriarch, has kept her distance from her daughter, Caroline-a fact she now regrets-yet she hopes to do right by her granddaughter. Cissy has always been an unusual girl, given to compulsive counting and list-making, but Janelle believes her implicitly. When Cissy is remanded to the Greater Mississippi State Hospital, a caring psychiatrist tries to help, yet new revelations drive Cissy to retreat even further from reality. It will fall to Janelle, despite her own failing health, to become Cissy's advocate and rescuer. And over the course of an unlikely road trip, Janelle and Cissy will confront the truths they've hidden from the world and themselves, finding courage, deep-rooted resilience, and a bond tender and tough enough to transform them both.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Feb 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684417872

Mandy Mikulencak

Mandy Mikulencak has been a writer her entire working life, first as a journalist, then as an editor and PR specialist for two national nonprofits and a United Nations agency. Today she lives in the mountains of Southwest Colorado with her husband.

Reviews for Forgiveness Road

[Barb Dahl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Engaging story of family dysfunction and female strength. It kept me wanting more.

[simplykelina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story follows a family in the 70’s around an issue no family ever wants to face: sexual abuse. Your heart will break from the first few pages to the very end. This does have triggers for cutting, sexual abuse, mental health, family tensions, and more.Your heart will literally break for Cissy and what she is going through. This is a very raw look into sexual abuse by a family member and the way it can effect a child even after that person is no longer in their life. Some of the issues Cissy faces while in treatment are so true what survivors may go through once the abuse has stopped (or is still occurring). Cissy may have been facing some demons, but she also was so strong to stick up for herself and ensure the safety of her younger siblings. You get a look into what it may be like when a family member does not believe the abuse that had occurred. I really loved the grandmother, but she was also constantly blaming the mother of Cissy. It was a really powerful story. This is not an action packed story and is pretty slow paced. If you love reading about hard hitting issues, you will love this. If you need a little more action around this, you may want to pass on this one.Overall, I really enjoyed this one and it made me feel all the feels!

[cathygeha · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Forgiveness Road by Mandy MikulencakThis book hit home and made me think of my mother, now deceased, and the story of abuse she revealed to me the day her father died. I was a freshman in college when she unburdened herself and did my best to absorb her pain. Her mother was not there for her but her grandmother was...and her grandmother had been in a mental institution so...there were definitely parallels in this book that made me think of not only my family but also of friends who told me of similar abuse in their own lives. This book was well written and not easy to read due to the weighty issues that were dealt with – incest, child abuse, cutting, psychological care/institutionalization, bigotry, the race divide, religion, God/dess, cancer, domestic battery, dysfunctional families...and more. Cissy is a truly good person with an outlook on life that was interesting to read. She was mature for her years and there for her sisters in so many ways. She developed coping skills to deal with the physical and mental abuse her father handed out and these coping mechanisms at times made her seem peculiar. Even after reading the ending of the book I am unsure just what Cissy will end up doing and almost wish there had been an epilogue so I would know just what happens next.Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review. 4 Stars

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On a Mississippi July morning sometime in the 1970s, 16 year old Cissy Pickering empties a gun into her father’s back. She does not explain, saying only that she had to do it to protect her younger sisters. Her mother, Caroline, turns against her, but her grandmother Janelle takes Cissy’s side. Cissy is arrested, and eventually states that her father had been raping her since she was little. They had a deal: she would do whatever he wanted, provided he never touch her little sisters. And he was starting to break that deal. She is, she says, ready to take the punishment for the crime she has committed, and expects to spend the rest of her life in jail. Her grandmother’s lawyer, however, plans to plead insanity. Cissy has had some mental quirks for a number of years: she makes endless lists and counts everything. She’s developed a form of OCD that allows her to believe she has some control over her life. This lands her in a mental hospital rather than in jail, where she reads whatever is available and plays chess with God, talking out loud to Her. But then her grandmother decides Cissy shouldn’t be punished at all for ridding the world of her son-in-law, and springs her for a road trip. There are problems, of course. Janelle knows not to use credit cards or checks, so they are limited to what cash she had on hand. And Janelle is ill. This may cut short their bid for freedom. There is a lot of things going on in this book; the cold relationship between Janelle and Caroline, the relationship between Janelle and her childhood best friend who is now her housekeeper- and refuses to call Janelle anything but ‘Ma’am’, the relationship of Caroline and Cissy that keeps Caroline from believing Cissy at first, the odd short of friendship between Cissy and a fellow patient at the asylum, the relationship that develops between Cissy and a waitress at the motel/restaurant they stop at for a while, and the relationship between said waitress and her boyfriend. But despite all that I liked about the book, I felt there was something odd about how fast Cissy got over things. She’s been abused all her life, she kills her father, her mother turns against her, and other crushing things happen to her later in the book. Yet she is okay… Her OCD protects her from what her father does to her, but it’s no protection against the rest, at least not that I can tell. Still, a very engaging book. Four and a half stars.

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel is about three generations of women in the same family who have their lives spiral out of control one hot day in July. This event changes all of their futures and what they believe about their pasts.On a hot, humid July morning, sixteen-year-old Cissy Pickering calmly and deliberately shoots her father in the back. In her mind it was completely justified - she was trying to save her younger sisters from the sexual abuse that her father had inflicted on her for her entire life. Her mother, Caroline, knew nothing about the abuse and isn't sure that she believes it and blames Cissy for ruining her life and her standing in the community. Her maternal grandmother, Janelle, who had always been very proper and very standoffish to her daughter's family is the only person who is on Cissy's side. She convinces the courts that Cissy should go to a mental hospital instead of jail. Cissy is already extremely OCD and when more revelations come to light, she retreats even further from reality. Janelle decides to take things in to her own hands and despite her failing health, she fights for Cissy. And over the course of an unlikely road trip, Janelle and Cissy will confront the truths they've hidden from the world and themselves, finding courage, deep-rooted resilience, and a bond tender and tough enough to transform them both. The wonderfully written novel shows love and resilience in three women in different generations of the same family. They all grow because of what happened but to me the best relationship that came about was between Cissy and her grandmother, Janelle. You may shed a few tears as you read this fantastic novel but they are worth it for the chance to read about these wonderful characters.Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.