Saving Grace (1995) is the story of Florida Grace Shepherd, the 11th child of a traveling evangelist who takes up serpents and gulps strychnine to confirm his faith. But her father's religion terrifies Grace, who says, "I loved Daddy and Momma, but I did not love Jesus"--and that's only one of the many kinds of exile she endures. Grace is cut off, not just from Jesus, but from herself, too, and every decision she makes, everything she yearns for, comes to seem like a betrayal of one sort or another. As she matures, she realizes that her father is a compulsive womanizer who excuses his frequent lapses by claiming that God forgives him whenever he ``backslides.'' Though his behavior eventually drives her mother to suicide, it takes longer for Grace herself to escape her father's psychic clutches. "Saving Grace" deals with questions of sin and salvation. A tale of Southern life and spiritual searching.