One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris

This is the choice for my home town's "The Community Reads", and while I read a lot, sometimes I miss getting the memo on what the book is, so I do not have a sense of what books are chosen. The reason I am belaboring this point is because this is a book that covers a tough subject, especially now that abortion is no longer uniformly available throughout the United States. The main theme in this is a woman from a tight knit community in Savannah who was raped by the son of a prominent family. The case went to court, she prevailed, he went to prison, and she was blamed by almost everybody for ruining someone's reputation. Legally she was found to be credible but her reputation was in tatters. She left town to prevent anyone from knowing that she became pregnant from the assault--she moved out of Georgia, where the perpetrator has rights to custody and contact with the child and to Maine, where they do not. As an aside, I did not realize that there were such disparities (not sure why it surprises me, but it is yet another example of how women are disrespected), and the book does make a memorable argument for why that is such a factor. Also covered is the bonding problem, which she experiences and overcomes. She comes back to Savannah because her father is terminally ill, and has to confront all the things that she escaped by leaving. Even though much of what happens to her is clearly fiction (ie. not believable), I found this very enjoyable to both read and think about and would recommend it).