When the Gods Speak Through Rain

Sixteen-year-old Marcus is a young man living within a confused world. His mother has developed an insatiable taste for alcohol, his father is mostly absent, and his brother has been deployed to Afghanistan. As unrest lurks inside and outside of his Brooklyn home, Marcus begins a quest for answers to life's most difficult questions.

Marcus has not heard from his father in months, but he still agrees to meet him one evening-just so he can get away from his mother and her obnoxious new boyfriend. Marcus's father looks like he has a lot of class but really has none whatsoever; when he takes Marcus to a greasy chicken joint to reveal that he is remarrying, Marcus realizes nothing has changed. But for Marcus, life is about to become more than he ever expected. After the police search his home for drugs, secrets shatter his normalcy, and the only world Marcus has ever known begins spinning out of control.

When the Gods Speak through Rain tells the poignant story of a young man who is just trying to survive-even when it seems impossible-and eventually finds hope in the realization that the imperfections of others are really what makes them perfect.