A Baby For The Outcast

The village was asleep, with all the people behind the walls and through the windows and up the stairs of the little houses blind and deaf in their beds while anything might happen. Lewis headed down the middle of the road and he kept falling and had to remember to get back on his feet. He reached the churchyard and stood in the dark with the church even darker above him. –from The Outcast by Sadie Jones It’s 1957. Nineteen-year-old Lewis Aldridge is returning by train to his home in Waterford where he has just served a two-year prison term for a crime that shocked the sleepy Surrey community. Wearing a new suit, he carries money his father Gilbert sent — to keep him away, he suspects — and a straight razor. No one greets him at the station. Twelve years earlier, seven-year-old Lewis and his spirited mother Elizabeth are on the same train, bringing Gilbert home from war. Waterford is experiencing many such reunions, alcohol lubricating awkward homecomings and community gatherings. The most oppressive of these are the mandatory holiday parties hosted by the town’s leading industrialist Dicky Carmichael, Gilbert’s employer. With the Carmichael estate backing onto the Aldridge property, the attractive and popular Tamsin Carmichael and her precocious kid sister Kit are Lewis’s playmates, along with a gaggle of neighbourhood boys who (like Lewis) are fascinated by Tamsin. The children play thrilling and cruel games, mirroring the adults’ inebriated dysfunction. Though pleased to be reunited with Elizabeth, Gilbert is appalled by the coddling his son has received in his absence. No longer permitted to skip church for picnics by the river, Elizabeth and Lewis are steered back under the ever-judgmental gaze of Waterford society. Lewis continues to flourish, a naturally capable golden child. But iconoclastic Elizabeth, disappointed by Gilbert’s insistence on conformity, seeks refuge in the bottle. Then a sunny riverside picnic ends with Elizabeth dead and ten-year-old Lewis the only witness. A shattered Gilbert is incapable of providing comfort to his young son and the community of Waterford turns away from the traumatized child, now rendered a pariah by tragedy. Lewis is sent to boarding school, summoned home only for holidays. Gilbert remarries five months later to Alice, a compliant beauty who is not up to the task of parenting a damaged child. Years pass and Lewis, now a troubled teenager, is lost in dangerous and self-harming behaviours. When an incident with a local bully causes Lewis to be even further estranged from the community, Gilbert and Alice stand idly by as Lewis is tormented by the tyrannical Dicky. Enraged, Lewis commits a shocking crime against the whole of Waterford and is sent to prison. Two years later, upon his shamed return, the town continues to treat Lewis as an outcast. Only Tamsin’s little sister Kit, now a young woman, sees in him the golden boy he once was. She had become infatuated with Lewis years earlier when he had casually protected her from bullies and broken bicycle chains. But she now faces a much darker and more dangerous sort of bullying at the hands of her father. It is up to Lewis once again to rescue her, redeeming himself through tremendous courage and terrible sacrifice. And perhaps Kit holds the power to rescue him, too. Winner of the Costa First Novel Award and a finalist for the prestigious Orange Prize, Sadie Jones’s The Outcast introduces us to a clear and brave new voice in British fiction. The novel is a clarion call to us all, daring us to stand up to the bullies of our world, in whatever form they may take and — above all else — to love our children.

The thrilling prequel to the New York Times–bestselling Summoner series! When stable boy Arcturus accidentally summons a demon and becomes Hominum's first common summoner, he becomes the key to a secret that the powerful overlords would do anything to keep hidden. Whisked away to Vocans Academy so he can be kept watch over, Arcturus finds himself surrounded by enemies. But he has little time to settle in before his life is turned upside down once again, for Hominum Empire is in turmoil. Rebellious intent simmers among the masses, and it will not be long before it boils over. Arcturus must choose a side . . . or watch an Empire crumble. The Summoner Trilogy The Novice The Inquisition The Battlemage Also in the Summoner series The Outcast (Summoner: The Prequel) The Summoner’s Handbook (Fall 2018) A Fine Welcome: Othello’s Journey (A Summoner Short Story)

This is a true story about an abandoned and premature baby in Africa who was taken in by a missionary family. The family struggles with the realities of life in Africa as they try to secure his future with their family.

Independent single woman Rachel is shunned by the Mennonite community she grew up in when she becomes pregnant, and dark secrets threaten to rise when her bishop brother-in-law coerces her to leave.

Will he choose between the woman he loves or the way of life he's always treasured?After a heartbreaking loss, Susannah signs a marital contract with a mail order bride agency in hopes of starting a new life. Instead, she finds herself betrothed to an unstable man who has fabricated his life story. Kwi is a Comanche outcast assumed dead by his tribe. He seeks refuge at a ranch operated by his half-brother, Luke Lancaster and wife, Billie. Kwi carries a natural ability to heal hurting animals. When Susannah escapes her betrothed and seeks work at the ranch, he recognizes the wounds of a broken woman. Together, their hearts mend from past regrets and form a bond beyond the pain. Still, Kwi remains determined to return to his tribe and make amends for the wrong he's done. When Susannah's betrothed makes a surprise appearance to claim her as his own, Kwi must choose between the woman he now loves or the way of life he's always treasured.

When a Roman ship is wrecked off the coast of Britain, an infant, Beric, is the only survivor. He is rescued by a British tribe who raise him as their own until they can no longer ignore his Roman ancestry. "How Beric survived...is not only incredible but gripping, convincing fiction." --"The Horn Book"

The Outcast System occurs in Africa and India. In Nigeria, outcasts are called Osu. As freeborn, myself, I was brought up to see the outcast as lower class humans. Our culture made it an abomination to have any relationships with them. I was forbidden from marrying from their stock. They could not hold some traditional titles and were never appointed Traditional Rulers. These fell apart when I saw blood donation by an outcast. The thoughts as to who would use the blood he donated bordered me. After some reflections and applying Scientific, Religious and Sociological knowledge, I concluded that the Outcast System is baseless, instituted in ignorance and being perpetuated in ignorance. To illustrate, I told the pitiable story of what would happen if a freeborn tries to marry an outcast. This book will make the readers worldwide abandon the System without coercion or force of law.

"Enter the world of Elkas, a young outcast with a troubled past. When a chance encounter leads him to a hidden kingdom, he finally finds a place where he belongs. But danger lurks in the shadows, and Elkas must use all of his wit and strength to survive. With a hint of sci-fi mixed into this epic fantasy tale, "Elkas: A Boy's Journey" will transport you to a land of adventure and romance. Follow Elkas as he battles fierce creatures and overcomes impossible odds to find his true home and the love of his life with the man he can call home with. Get lost in this thrilling best-selling novel, the perfect escape for fans of classic fantasy adventures with a modern twist.”