I said it, but I didn’t believe it for a damn minute. That’s what he said to me, Lorraine: ‘your daughter.’ Who do you suppose he meant? She said I should explain what had possibly necessitated a call from the minister and a Saturday morning meeting about your daughter.

I went to slip through the window, but before I could get completely out of the house and truthfully say I didn’t hear her, Momma called me into the kitchen. Why’d I have to be called such an old-fashioned name? For that matter, why were we living like we were some hicks from the Stone Age: no cell phone, no cable TV, and no internet? I was trapped everywhere I turned. It reminded me of everything I hated about being seventeen years old, still in high school, and living in Bend, Minnesota. I didn’t.Ĭhrist, I cringed every time I heard her call my name. I would have dressed in camouflage or armor if I had any. Since the night before, when Momma answered a phone call, she had been beseeching God as if she had him on retainer like a lawyer or on a leash like a dangerous dog. It was early morning on a Saturday, and my momma was waking up God. But only if she herself can learn to bend. They need each other more than ever now, and somehow it’s Lorraine-the sinner, the black sheep-who holds the power to bring them together. Now Lorraine may have a chance at freedom and real love.īut then Becky disappears, and Lorraine uncovers an old, painful secret that could tear the family apart. Charity is mysterious, passionate, and-to Lorraine’s delighted surprise-queer too. And even though she’s got no real hope-not with the scholarship’s morality clause and that one time she kissed the preacher’s daughter.Įverything changes when a new girl comes to town.

Which is why she’s fighting so hard to win the McGerber scholarship-her ticket out of Bend-even though her biggest competition is her twin sister, Becky.

Or at least that’s what it feels like when the local church preaches so sternly against homosexuality. Lorraine Tyler is the only queer person in Bend, Minnesota.

Bend by Nancy J. Hedin