In the hills of Appalachia in the 1940s, Alice has always been a quiet girl, tender-hearted, observant, and deeply tied to the father who raised her with patience, music, and steady love.

When grief leaves her unmoored, Alice reaches for the first hand that seems to offer safety.

Darrell Whitlow is handsome, certain, and devout, the kind of man others admire. To Alice, he seems like a doorway out of sorrow. But once she steps through it, the walls begin to close.

Inside Darrell’s world, love comes with correction, faith comes with fear, and a woman’s goodness is measured by how much of herself she can surrender.

As loss, silence, and control reshape her life, Alice must find the courage to believe that her own voice is not sinful, selfish, or small.

🏆 Winner of the 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Grand Prize for Fiction, Alice Anyway is a deeply moving Appalachian novel about grief, faith, survival, and the quiet miracle of becoming whole.

1940s Kentucky. A child stolen and hidden from the world.
A dress cut from a feed sack.
And a woman who spent her life surviving a past she could barely remember.

A Feed Sack Dress for Sadie is a haunting Appalachian story about identity, endurance, and the quiet strength it takes to build a life from almost nothing.

Ivy Lee has spent her whole life unseen.

Until the night a traveling carnival rolls into town — and offers her a way out.

What begins as a single, daring choice becomes a journey into a wider world—where identity, longing, and courage collide, and the life she’s been given is no longer the one she’s willing to keep.

Available in hardcover, paperback and on Kindle, including Kindle Unlimited.