One Sunday - by Carrie Gerlach Cecil (Paperback)

About the Book

"At age thirty-seven, Alice Ferguson has everything an ambitious, intellectual, self-made woman could want. She has captured a career as an editor of a tabloid magazine, launched her own website full of Hollywood gossip, and even clawed her way into a second-hand pair of Prada shoes. She has also finally landed a husband--no small feat, as itrequired getting pregnant with his baby. But when Alice becomes pregnant and experiences health problems, her world is turned upside down. To save her life and the life of her unborn child, she must leave Los Angeles and the stress of her bicoastal career, exchanging the late-night parties of sunny California for the suburbs of Nashville. With a weak smile and an even weaker heart, she soon finds herself living with a husband she barely knows, ensconced in a gated community brimming with perky, plastic, pony-tailed housewives. And then, at the gentle urging of a new friend, she agrees to attend church one Sunday afternoon."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In this humorous and heartfelt novel, a beleaguered young woman must shed her career, identity, and power persona to learn how to love and forgive herself, others, and God.

Alice Ferguson is an A-list tabloid editor from Los Angeles who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a sports doctor from Nashville. When her health takes a nosedive and her unborn child is put at risk, she is forced to pack her Louis Vuitton bags and take a sabbatical from her high-pressure existence in Hollywood and relocate to the heart of Dixie with a man she barely knows.

As she struggles to adjust to her new life, an unlikely friendship with an African-American pastor and his family starts Alice on a touching and surprising spiritual exploration. After months of listening to her new friends asking her to attend church, a meal of fried chicken and angel food cake seals the deal. Alice reluctantly agrees to attend one service to watch her pastor friend put on his weekly show.

Sitting in the very last pew, she internally doubts and mocks the Bible-thumpers, but she also begins to reflect on the incidents in her painful past that have brought her to a life of moral ambiguity. As she learns to let go of the pain and accept herself, Alice goes from making fun of them to possibly being one of them. Equal parts humor and heartbreak, One Sunday is Alice's journey to hope, friendship, laughter, tears, inspiration, forgiveness, and the love and peace that come only from God.

Review Quotes

"One Sunday touched my heart in a deep way that many of us who have looked for love in the wrong places can relate to. This refreshing tale, told with honesty and humor, gives a transparent view of a hurting woman in search of love, healing, and clear direction to her true God-given destiny. It is a wonderful translation of the human condition...the created looking for the Creator."--Rebecca Nichols Alonzo, speaker and Author of The Devil in Pew Number Seven

"Carrie's story is very real and compelling .The incredible impact of Christ upon her life that is felt in these pages is not fiction, but an authentic testimony of amazing grace. This book is a great gift of hope to anyone who doubts that God cares about their pain."--Dr. Rice Broocks, Co-founder of Every Nation Church's and Ministries, Bishop of Bethel World

"The message of this Christian novel: Jesus loves everyone, and no one is beyond forgiveness"-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"One Sunday is a novel that takes hold of you. Carrie Gerlach Cecil gives a vivid depiction of the life of Alice Ferguson. This humorous journey paved with rocky roads takes you from dark to darker. Yet, in a realistic way, a beacon of light shines through, which leads to a brighter day. In short, it a story of hope, inspite of hopeless situations. "--Debbie Winans- Lowe, Gospel Music Artist

"I couldn't put this book down."--Stormie Omartian, author of The Power of a Praying Woman