The Burden of Sweetberry

Candida “Sweetberry” Armstrong, a beautiful and vain woman, pits good against evil in her adulterous relationship with Deacon Josiah Hess. For twenty years, she’s been the mistress of the married man. Out of respect for the him, the community has turned a blind eye. But a new man comes to town and Sweetberry is smitten. Luther McGill is everything she ever wanted in a man, and he wants her. She ends the affair with Deacon Hess and sets about planning her new life with Luther. Then the unthinkable happens! Deacon Hess murders Luther on the church ground in front of a crowd of witnesses. Sweetberry is thrown into the abyss, and her journey to redemption takes many twists and turns. Among them, the nightly hauntings by Luther and the threat of insanity. “The Burden of Sweetberry” is set in the fictional town of Sipsey, Alabama, in the 1960s and features aspects of the African-American culture common for that time, including style of speaking, humor, worship, and songs of praise.