Stolen Lives

Ali Monroe's first ten years are spent with a mother who is an alcoholic and whose income is earned from male visitors to their home. After tragedy strikes, the moral pendulum in Ali's home-life swings to the opposite extreme when she's forced to live with her religious aunt who appears to love her but is unable to let Ali live a regular life due to her beliefs and fear of her father's wrath. At the age of 13, Ali becomes involved in a scandal she can never live down, and for which she...
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Ali Monroe's first ten years are spent with a mother who is an alcoholic and whose income is earned from male visitors to their home. After tragedy strikes, the moral pendulum in Ali's home-life swings to the opposite extreme when she's forced to live with her religious aunt who appears to love her but is unable to let Ali live a regular life due to her beliefs and fear of her father's wrath. At the age of 13, Ali becomes involved in a scandal she can never live down, and for which she is severely punished. She becomes a teenage girl in modern times struggling to endure a life that includes dressing in 19th century clothing, restrictions on food and drink, and no social life. In addition to the challenges she faces in present time, she's haunted by the mysteries of the past, not knowing who her father was, or why her aunt and grandparents refuse to answer any questions about him. Ali never knows what's in store for her from one day to the next as her aunt fluctuates between empathizing with Ali's desire for a normal life and her own fear of stepping outside the bounds of what her church insists is right and proper, even if it means making a child suffer, all in the name of love and obedience to their version of God. When Ali is 18, she discovers dark, hidden family secretes. Thus begins her journey that takes her to another world that she isn't prepared for.