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Is it ever too late to overcome the adversities of our past? Set in the South during the 60s and 70s, The Art of Straightening Nails follows Robert Rhodes as he reminisces about his life. His childhood had not been a pleasant, innocent experience. Aside from the poverty and the endless disappointment his family endured, the boy had also known personal challenges of neglect and abuse. As an adult, Robert continues to be fettered by his past. Even a religious conversion doesn't resolve his struggles. After realizing the source of his lifelong pain, he confronts his past in a dramatic climax ...

Isabel Morales is a successful Chicago sculptor hiding a brutal family history - one not even her husband knows. After decades of turning her back on her past, she’s forced to return to Appalachia when she receives news of her estranged mother’s death. But going back means revisiting the traumatic childhood she escaped - and the family that cast her out when she needed them most.

When Misty was six years old, her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch where they were subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community where they were adopted and became baptized members. Misty was devastated to once again find herself in a world of fear, animal cruelty, and sexual abuse.