I haven’t read a book I liked as much as Godshot in a long time. Chelsea Bieker’s debut novel lays bare the desperation of a once-thriving California valley town in the time of climate change, where people would do anything - and believe anything - it takes to be delivered from the drought. Enter Pastor Verne, a charismatic leader who presides over the Gifts of the Spirit congregation, promising that if they stick to their assignments and don’t question his divinity, he will perform a miracle and bring back the rain. Lacy Mae is a 14 year old girl whose alcoholic mother ran off with an unknown man and left her in Peaches with her grandmother Cherry and the rest of Verne’s fervent believers. As things begin to break down and Lacey starts to question her faith in Verne, she reckons with what it means to have faith, to be a woman, to be a mother and a part of a family. I don’t want to spoil the novel at all but I will say it is a modern masterpiece of feminist liberation that is in turns deeply troubling and heartbreaking and also empowering and joyful. I’ve already told everyone who will listen that they should preorder this for next April; it’s going to be one of the best books of 2020. One final note - Bieker’s writing is tight and the story strong, but I did feel the flash-forward final chapter tied things up in too neat a bundle that felt a little trite (I think the ending would have been more compelling without it). Thanks Netgalley and Catapult for giving me the opportunity to read this one early! I can’t wait to see the reactions people have to it when it hits the world next spring.

An un-put-downable saga of the raw strength it takes to live in the Californian desert while trying to find the mother that left you in the hands of your grandmother and the local cult.
Edgy, harsh, but still beautiful. Godshot is a must read!

I hope this isn't the first Netgalley review for this book. Judging by the Goodreads rating, I'm firmly in the minority opinion here. The book is well written, and I liked the flawed and well-rounded characters, but I'm to the point where I cringe when I see a book described as "feminist" simply because of how often that translates to "terrible things happen to women, and they might have a few victories and eventually get to show their strength, but mostly it's just a series of bad things happening to them over and over." I'm clearly in the minority here based on the other reviews, but it's like the Lifetime Movie paradox. Lifetime was "television for women," but you could almost guarantee that any time you turned it on, you'd be seeing something awful happening to a woman. I'm burnt out on reading books like that.