The Edge of Belonging

I kept this book in my bag so I could read it when I had a few minutes at the soccer fields, waiting in the school parking lot, or at a table while I ate lunch.

I finally put off enough chores to sit on my porch and finish “The Edge of Belonging,” the debut novel by Amanda Cox. This book has so many of my favorite themes: faithful friends who are family, adoption, and a homecoming story. It’s a slow-moving story that spans two generations, but the story is woven together beautifully as loss becomes hope and strangers become family. Truth of God’s redemptive plan for us is sprinkled throughout the relationships in this fiction book.

Perhaps my favorite line is from a minor character encouraging the main character: “God puts people in our lives to have and to hold. To give this existence richer meaning. I don’t think we were ever meant to fight life’s battles alone.”

Amen. Here’s to Ivy and Harvey and all the real-life people God uses to write our stories.

About the book

When Ivy Rose returns to her hometown to oversee an estate sale, she soon discovers that her grandmother left behind more than trinkets and photo frames. She provided a path to the truth behind Ivy’s adoption. Shocked, Ivy seeks clues to her past, but a key piece to the mystery is missing.

Twenty-four years earlier, Harvey James finds an abandoned newborn who gives him a sense of human connection for the first time in his life. His desire to care for the baby runs up against the stark fact that he is homeless. When he becomes entwined with two people seeking to help him find his way, Harvey knows he must keep the baby a secret or risk losing the only person he’s ever loved.

In this dual-time story, the truth – both the search for it and the desire to keep it from others – takes center stage as Ivy and Harvey grapple with love, loss, and letting go.

“The Edge of Belonging” is a 400-page paperback book is published by Revell (Sept. 8, 2020). It’s also available in hardback and electronic versions.

About the author

Amanda Cox is a blogger and a curriculum developer for a national nonprofit youth leadership organization, but her first love is communicating through story. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Bible and theology and a master’s degree in professional counseling. Her studies and her interactions with hurting families over a decade have allowed her to create multidimensional characters that connect emotionally with readers. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children.

Before becoming a stay-at-home parent, she spent her time counseling children, families, and individuals through life’s challenging moments. Now she uses those same skills to develop layered characters and stories, bringing them on a journey of hope and healing. A journey she hopes her readers experience in their own lives as they read.

A few of her favorite things are the sanctuary of the great outdoors, the feeling of pen on paper, the sound of her children’s laughter, and exploring new places with her husband of 15 years. (Oh, let’s not forget good fiction and good coffee. She’s addicted to both.) You can stay connected with her latest writing updates at www.amandacoxwrites.com.

*****

Revell gave me a free copy of this book in exchange for a review, but I truly loved it and have recommended it to my community of readers and adoptive moms. Of course, I also added it to my list of recommended reads.