Literary Las Vegas: Thomas D. Powers

Henderson writer Thomas D. Powers shares a family-focused saga in his novel “Mother, Father, Son.” At 16, Mary Margaret returned home from a night out with friends to find the police investigating her mother’s murder at the hands of a drunken husband. Left alone with her two younger sisters in Depression-era New York, Mary learns she is pregnant. Just as she’s about to tell her boyfriend, he announces his decision to join the priesthood. She reluctantly gives her infant son up for adoption. Fifty years later, fate brings the mother, father and son together again.

Excerpt:

The next day, Sunday, was the first time in her life she did not go to church. She felt she and God had some reconciling to do. Instead, she took a long walk in Prospect Park. Finding an empty bench she sat down and tried to organize her thoughts. She began to question God, as she had after her mother’s murder. Why are you punishing me this way? Is it because I made love to Jacko out of wedlock? Is it because I had joy in my life too soon after the tragic loss of my parents? Is it because I wanted a man whom you decided was needed to serve you as a priest? Is it because of the burning hatred I have toward my father and I have not yet forgiven him? Dear God, is this a testing process I am going through? She found no answers.