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Publisher's Review

(NewSouth Books, Montgomery, Alabama)

Alabama Governor James Forbe was elected to office on one simple promise: he would make Christian prayer mandatory in public schools. And he delivers, making more than half of his home state ecstatic.

Two grade school girls, Emma and Susie, follow the Governor's orders and begin reading the prayer off the chalkboard every day at school. But strange things start happening when Susie and Emma accidentally invert some of the words; the prayers--all of them, no matter how outrageous or heartfelt--begin coming true.

The effects of the little girls' prayers begin to unhinge the state, and the country, as they pray for an end to disease, to poverty, to racism, and for new computers for each public school student. The cast of characters--ranging from Brother Johnny, a perpetual Bible-quoting fundamentalist preacher, to Reverend Janet Gaylor, an acid-tongued Unitarian minister living as a hopeful stranger in a strange land--struggles to find meaning and happiness against the backdrop of extreme changes in the social order, while author Dennis Hale probes the theological implications of any state-sponsored religion. As Susie and Emma continue to pray for an ideal world, they only have two things to lose: their innocence and the purity of their faith. And the adult world, with all its self-imposed complexities and desires, is more than willing to strip both from the little girls.

Part fable and part wake-up call to the politicians and voters who continue to push for the convergence of church and state, The Prayer Amendment is biting, funny satire at its best, with well-intentioned individuals caught up in the maelstrom of religious politics in the Deep South.

Setting

This contemporary story moves back and forth between Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, and Orchard Hill, a small, fictitious town in Tallapoosa County located in east central Alabama. Occasionally, the fast-moving.narrative pulls into the real towns of Alexander City, Dadeville, Atlanta, and finally ends up in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on the Gulf of Mexico. Mix the real places with the fictitious characters, many drawn from real life, and you will find yourself saying, "I''ve been there. I'm sure I've met that person." Yet, the author hastens to say that resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING.....

Jimmy Johnson, nationally syndicated cartoonist of Arlo and Janis, wrote:

"The Prayer Amendment is a seamless read that little betrays its status of "first novel,"... rich character development...makes me wish the book were a little longer...a cautionary tale for our time, lifted from Alabama politics and culture with disturbing faithfulness."

Joseph O. Patton of The Capital City Free Press wrote:

"Hale's host of larger-than-life characters and his ability to blend basic human life with the higher themes of spirituality makes for a funny and intriguing novel...." (Click link to read the entire review:) Capital City FreePress

Mary Carol Moran, writing professor, author, and editor of Ordinary and Sacred as Blood, says:

"The Prayer Amendment is a novel that is both funny and wise, peopled with real characters you will come to understand and care about, even when you disagree with every word they speak. You'll laugh and nod your head as you read Hale's ironic debunking of American politics and religion, and you may think a little harder about who you'll vote for in the next gubernatorial election."

Take some familiar Alabama characters -- a governor who uses "Prayer in the Public Schools" to get elected, a Scripture-quoting fundamentalist preacher, another preacher, a teacher, a digging reporter, and mix well with the usual amount of prejudice and ignorance and a school system with no money.

Then add a couple of bright but naive elementary school girls. What you get is S. Dennis Hale's entertaining book, The Prayer Amendment.

It's billed as a "Satire of Southern Politics and Religion," and that sums it up pretty well. A subtitle might be, "Better be Careful What You Prayer For, 'Cause You Might Get It."

See, the governor puts in the rayer he promised, an innocuous, generic little Christian prayer that students are supposed to recite every morning. Well, not everybody, Jews and Muslims and atheists (if anyone in Orchard Hill would admit such a thing) can stand in the hall during the prayer.

The aforementioned girls decide they can improve the prayer, so, with their teacher's permission, they start adding specific requests to it -- and things start happening. Very sick people get well, masses of computers come to the schools, stinking sewage problems at their school get taken care of, and so on.

Hale knows his area well, and he tells an amusing story. It's a quick read, just 269 pages. (Er, Dennis seems a tad uneasy with the lovey-dovey scenes, but so does one of my idols, Raymond Chandler.) Get a copy of The Prayer Amendment," now at your favorite bookstore.