Holding On: A Parable of Faith and Strength

Set in rural South Carolina and urban North Carolina. In the novel Holding On: A Parable of faith and Strength, we watch Sister Fullmore emerge through an untypical childhood to become a unique woman. The book begins on her first day of school, where we see hints of the smart, sassy young woman she becomes. From a father who drinks his family into a life of poverty to brothers who leave her to fend for herself, Sister’s expectations of the male population are pretty low. Somehow, it seems that the men in her life live down to her expectations.Her Grandma Hester tells her, Pick your man, don’t let a man pick you. That way, you know what you are getting. Her mother advises, Don’t fall in love with a man just because of his looks unless he has enough money to buy you a house. In all her sixteen years of living, Sister hasn’t met one more who tempted her to forget that advice. Then she meets a fine piece of chocolate manhood named Joe Ervin Evans.A liquor house wasn’t where a man figured on meeting the woman of his dreams; finding a wife was the last thing on Joe’s mind that night. Until he meets Sister., his smile has never failed to make a woman’s heart melt. Undaunted by her seeming lack of interest in him, he sets out to convince this pretty little woman that she will be his