Redfearn applied the Page 69 Test to Hush Little Baby, her debut novel, and reported the following:Page 69 of my book comes at a crossroads for the protagonist, Jillian, right at the moment when she is taking a time out to contemplate her life and the difficult choice she needs to make. She knows she needs to get out of her abusive marriage, but she is terrified. At this moment she hates herself and what she has become. She leaves work and goes to the beach. Frolicking in the waves is a mother playing with her little girl, adding to Jillian's self-loathing:Learn more about Hush Little Baby at Suzanne Redfearn's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
CHAPTER 16
Mothers sacrifice for their children, throw themselves in front of trains, lift cars with superhuman strength to save them.
I do nothing. Drew has glimpsed Gordon’s temper. He was there when Gordon nearly killed me. He’s been subjected to Gordon’s demand for perfection, has suffered the consequences of not living up to his impossible standards.
He knows his dad has hurt me. He’s heard the slaps and the thumps at night, has been woken by my involuntary gasps and yelps, has heard the sharp intake of my breath when he hugs me too hard the next day.
Yet I stay.
My mind drifts to the first time Drew and I were alone. It was the day after he was born, and he was cradled in the rook’s nest of my arm, his tiny lips opened and closed, glubbing around his toothless gums, and his newborn eyes, barely slits, opened around their pale blue centers to find mine.
“Hello, little man,” I said.
At my voice, his mouth rooted for my breast. He knew me.
Although he’d just fed, I opened my gown, and he latched on again, a lackluster effort more for comfort than nutrient. That moment lives in my heart, the moment he was all mine, when life was still perfect and I could give him everything he needed.
Now, when he needs me most, I’m failing.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.
My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.
--Marshal Zeringue
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