In The Prodigal Daughter, Lindy Hicks Cleere and her mother, Lois Hicks, take turns recounting Lindy’s descent from the straight-laced daughter of a small-town Baptist pastor to the coke-snorting wife of a local drug dealer — and her ultimate redemption.
Lindy was a freshman in high school in Amite, La., in the late 1980s when she met Damien Malstan. Unlike Lindy’s family, Damien’s was a dysfunctional disaster. His parents divorced when he was 3, and according to Lindy, Damien had been exposed to drugs, alcohol and physical abuse all his life. He was a rebel who lived by the clichéd motto, “Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll.” As Lindy says, she gladly “got on board for the ride.”
Initially, Lindy’s transgressions involved little more than sneaking out of her parents’ home to be with Damien, but soon she was partaking in the drugs that Damien was also peddling. The two married during Lindy’s freshman year in college, but their honeymoon period was short-lived when police busted into the house where they were staying in search of Damien and his drug stash. Rather than let her husband be hauled off to jail, Lindy swallowed three baggies of cocaine and then had to have them surgically removed when one burst. Soon after, Lindy re-devoted her life to Jesus Christ, forsaking drugs and Damien.
A deeply religious book, The Prodigal Daughter reads best when Lindy is telling the story as opposed to Lois’ slower-paced recounting. Yet, Lindy’s story does have noticeable gaps. She skates over the legal ramifications of the drug bust, only saying that she “received a felony charge,” but not going into detail about the resulting consequences. While Lindy leaves the door open for another book, the end of this one feels rushed and would have been better served with more of the story being told now rather than later.
Overall, though, this is an inspirational read that will lend hope to those going through similar situations.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
