Plumcake

Faye Collins must decide to confront or forgive the teacher who sexually abused her when she was 17. When Faye sued Aquinas Prep Catholic High School and her accused abuser, Doctor Edward Vogel, the Catholic Church controlled the story with a puppeteer's smooth finesse. Twenty years later, as a high school administrator and Catholic mother of three, Faye is shaping a new generation of teens who confront abounding trauma. When she finds out that Doctor Vogel has cancer, Faye wonders if an encounter at the dying man's bedside can redeem them both. The journey will make Faye question her fundamental understanding of consent, accountability, and the importance of mercy.

Sarah Gray is a literary critic and English professor. Plumcake is her debut novel. Sarah studied Theology and Literature at the University of Notre Dame and earned her Doctorate in Postcolonial Irish Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She grew up in Orange County, California, where she now resides with her husband and children.

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There are no one-dimensional characters in Gray's novel: Plumcake sparks with the nuance of people persevering through impossible circumstances. The protagonist's biggest triumph is holding on to-and centering-a faith unsullied by humans. Faye's devotion, her sacred motherhood, and her life's work stand as testament to the resilience of those who endure the unwanted bond between abuser and survivor.

-Elizabeth Savage, Professor and Dean of Westover Honors College, Lynchburg College

Gray's Plumcake is many things: A celebration of empathy, a lyrical exploration of the pain that springs from abuse, an encomium to the power of the human spirit, and the best book I read this year.

-Jim Hansen, Professor of English and Film, University of Toronto

Plumcake is a gripping tale about the inter-generational effects of sexual abuse and trauma. Told with sensitivities reminiscent of Nabokov, Gray deftly exposes the pathology of a predator while taking the reader on his survivor's complicated journey of loss and redemption.

-Joelle Casteix, Author, Speaker, and Chair of the Board of Directors, Zero Abuse Project