Darnita Collins

Shattered Darnita Collins

Deanna Guthrie knows about success. She has transformed herself from rape victim to high-powered divorce attorney. She has represented some of the most prestigious clients making them the richest women in Atlanta. However, she began to question her so-called successful life. She had chased selfish things; prizes that shine no more than discarded gum wrappers. Deanna grew up in the Appalachian. She spent the first eighteen years of her life in the shadow of the Smoky Mountains. She had not always been full of anger-- once before the innocence of a child was shattered and marred with shame and guilt, she had been a free spirit- pure and uncorrupted by evil. But a vein of ugliness ran through the Tennessee Valley. It ran deep, as deep as the dark secrets she kept. "Little girl," Mrs. Stewart called from the front porch. "Dog days of summer is here." She had her eyes fixed on Deanna. "It's an evil time. Ye stay away from the evil that waits fer ye."