Soul Kiss: A NovelThe story begins with a bus ride from Manhattan, Kansas, to a small town in Georgia in 1968. Seven-year-old Mariah Kin Santos is on a trip with her beautiful, sad mama, just the two of them, as always. When they reach the porch of a tidy white house, her mother rings the doorbell, is greeted coolly by her two maiden aunts, conducts a brief, cryptic conversation with them, and then flees, leaving Mariah in the care of two old strangers who claim to be family. Mariah's mother, devastated by yet another failed love affair, is sliding out of control, and rather than endanger the adoration her little girl has for her, she abandons the child before the good memories go bad. After a difficult start, Mariah and her aunts come to form a strangely harmonious threesome - soft, round Faith teaches Mariah to play the piano; strong, fierce Merleen teaches her to drive and to garden - but Mariah still dreams of her mother's glorious return and the far-off father she has never known. As a teenager nursing a nascent rebellion, she begins a flirtatious correspondence with him and before long travels to Los Angeles to confront the hero of her imagination. For his part, her father is suddenly face to face with a replica of the woman he loved passionately fourteen years earlier, and she is his daughter. |
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afraid arms Aunt Faith says baby bathroom big white house Black Maria blue body breath Candy cello chifforobe church cigarette clothes color dance dark dead Deadman door dreams dress everything face father feel fingers floor front gonna hair hand head hear inside Irish Spring Jesus Miguel kiss kitchen laugh leaning leave lips little girl live look Mama Mama's Mariah Matisse mother mouth never night Oyama paint perfect orange pink play pretty red velvet cake remember Shay Youngblood shotgun houses shoulder singing sister sleep smell smiles sofa Sometimes Soul Kiss soul music sound stairs stare suitcase Sunday sweet talk tell thighs things tight Tree Valium voice waiting walk watch wearing whisper window woman wonder words