Secret Place

Leslie J. Sherrod

Jun 2011 · Urban Books

About this ebook

Charisma has the perfect life, with a doctor husband, Gideon, whom she adores, a secure home in suburban Baltimore and a wonderful daughter, April. But there's a secret part of Gideon that's about to unravel as it threatens to ruin all their lives. Gideon suffers from depression and his subsequent leave from his job and the loss of income uproots them to a less desirable neighborhood where the family begins to deteriorate. Gideon's not getting the help he needs, and there aren't enough prayers Charisma can say to get things back on track. When an encounter with a neighboring family, also struggling with the mental health of one of its members, results in a horrifying crisis, will they at last come to terms with the real problem?

About the author

Leslie J. Sherrod is both a writer and a licensed social worker. Her debut novel, Like Sheep Gone Astray (Grand Central Publishing, 2006), earned a Starred Review from Booklist and was a featured selection of Glory Girls Book Club and AOL’s Black Voices. She is also a contributor to two devotionals in the bestselling A Cup of Comfort series (Adams Media) and writes poetry for Paintbrush Poetry, a home-based business she shares with her husband that combines her creative writing with his original artwork. A short story she penned, “The Jericho Band” is available exclusively at Amazon.com as part of the Amazon Shorts program. She has held positions at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Cigna Behavioral Health, as well as other community-based hospitals and programs, working with families in desperate situations throughout inner-city Baltimore. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW); American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW); National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI); North American Association of Christians in Social Work (NACSW); and the Black Mental Health Alliance (BMHA).