“Birdhouse Jesus” by Terri Chastain

Birdhouse Jesus (Twisted Road Publication 2023) by Terri Chastain is a powerful novel. Like many powerful books, it has some heart-clutching, harrowing scenes, but, on balance it is uplifting. Yet, given some elements of the plot, perhaps there should be a trigger warning that the story contains a few scenes of sexual abuse of a child. These scenes are carefully crafted and are not unnecessarily graphic, and certainly not gratuitous. Most of the novel, however, concerns a courageous girl who grows into a mature, loving young woman despite impressive obstacles. A mother-daughter story line is also important. Their reconciliation is hard fought and aided by a loving aunt. A gentle theme of faith also bolsters the story. This is a compelling, well-written literary novel.

Beginning in Rome, Georgia, in 1967, the novel is divided into five parts, starting with the protagonist as a six-year-old child. The child, Mary Alice Lydell, steals a wooden crucifix with a small Jesus statue on it from her beloved aunt. The crucifix reminds her of a wooden bird house a neighbor made. “But it’s a bird house gone wrong,” she thinks, with a sad Jesus attached. Hence the unique title. She wants to take the sad Jesus home to care for him—and she hopes this Jesus will stop her father from “being mean.” Despite the theft of this birdhouse Jesus—which Mary Alice considers as borrowing not stealing—Mary Alice is a good, obedient child. The story is told exclusively from Mary Alice’s point of view and in her voice.

At six, Mary Alice does not understand the episodes when her father comes quietly into her bedroom after her work-weary mother is long in bed. He does things over her body, crushing her. She hates these visits and knows something is terribly wrong. Because her father threatens her, she is afraid to tell her mother or her aunt. When Mary Alice finally attempts to tell her aunt, the aunt does not understand and brushes it all off. The Ten Commandments, the aunt reminds her, demand she honor and obey her father.

The episodes of sexual abuse, carefully written not to be overtly graphic, are nonetheless disturbing. The father tells her to consider the attacks “sleepwalking.” This only further confuses the six-year-old. A later attack when Mary Alice is a young teenager is particularly harrowing. This time the father kills a neighbor’s dog to further instill fear and silence in his daughter.

To balance these abuse segments, there are some disarmingly sweet, even charming moments, when the six-year-old Mary Alice speaks to the birdhouse Jesus. She carefully tends this Jesus, showing concern for his well-being and seeking comfort from him. From the thoughts of this young child, readers get a glimpse of true, simple faith. In one scene, she rushes home from school to show Jesus the picture she drew and chats happily with the tiny statue of Jesus as if he is in the room with her. At another point after she tearfully returns the borrowed statue to her aunt, Mary Alice observes, “Mama says the smell of Aunt Jean’s pound cat is Heaven on Earth. That must keep Jesus from being homesick at her house.”

The most absorbing portions of the book are those when Mary Alice is six. The author captures the bewildered thoughts and imagination of the child in excellent detail. The setting and culture—Rome, Georgia in 1967 through the late 1970s—also are quite accurate. Initially the pacing seems slow as readers are introduced to Mary Alice while she talks to her imaginary friends after climbing a tree. But soon the story builds with increasing tension as readers witness the grave fear and dislike Mary Alice has toward her father. It isn’t long before readers are shown exactly why.

The segments with Mary Alice as a teen are predictable, yet still engaging enough. Mary Alice feels shame, trying to hide her body, and is vulnerable to attentions from a young man. She fights with her mother and seeks comfort with her best friend and sometimes from her aunt.

The mother is complex and well-drawn as a woman exhausted from long work hours, housework, not to mention dealing with an alcoholic husband who can’t keep a job. Caring for her daughter seems to take a backseat to other pressures. The mother is genuinely unaware of the abuse her daughter suffers at the hands of her father. While readers might wonder how the mother could miss the abuse, Mary Alice explains that her father “never lets her see him being mean to me.”

Terri Chastain

In the end, this is a novel well worth the read, with a combination of charm and horror and finally transcendence.

The author, Terri Chastain, (1957-2022) was a native of Georgia, who was active in the creative writing community for over thirty years. This is her only novel.