Karen Mockler

After Moses' tells the story of the eccentric Tumarkin family, who must first suffer the loss of its reckless daughter Shoe and then of Moses, Shoe's five-year-old son. Set in a small, southern Ohio town, the novel interweaves the stories of three lonely siblings — Shoe, Johnny, and Ida, a painter and recluse who has never moved out of her parents' house. In Shoe's final will, she tries to cure that loneliness: a wife for Johnny, a son for Ida. But companionship cannot be parceled out like possessions. Johnny will not marry a woman on demand — even if he happens to love her. Ida will adore her nephew Moses and the tall stranger who walks into their lives, but will they become a family? And what does a young boy do when his parents' worlds collide? After Moses is testament to the fact that love leaves a legacy — and often surprises, too.