Bells for Eli by Susan Beckham Zurenda Book Review!

First cousins Ellison Winfield and Adeline Green are meant to grow up happily and innocently across the street from one another amid the supposed wholesome values of small-town Green Branch, South Carolina, in the 1960s and 70s. But Eli's tragic accident changes the trajectory of their lives and of those connected to them. Shunned and even tortured by his peers for his disfigurement and frailty, Eli struggles for acceptance in childhood as Delia passionately defends him. Delia's narrative voice presents Eli as a confident young man in adolescence, but underneath he hides indelible wounds harboring pain and insecurity, scars that rule his impulses. And while Eli cherishes Delia and attempts to protect her from her own troubles, he cares not for protecting himself. In this compelling coming of age story, culture, family, friends, bullies, and lovers propel two young people to unite to guard each other in a world where love, hope, and connectedness ultimately triumph.
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After teaching literature, composition, and creative writing to thousands of high school and college students for 33 years, Susan turned her attention to putting a novel in her heart on paper, the genesis of which started with a short story that won a fiction prize some years ago. Her debut novel, Bells for Eli (Mercer University Press, March 2020), was selected as a Winter 2020 Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Susan taught English for 33 years on the college level and at the high school level to AP students. She won numerous regional awards such as the South Carolina Fiction Prize (twice), the Porter Fleming Competition, The Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Fiction Contest, The Hub City Hardegree Contest in Fiction, Alabama Conclave First Novel Chapter Contest, and The Jubilee Writing Competition, and has been published in numerous literary journals.

Susan received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and now works as a book publicist managing media relations for Magic Time Literary Publicity. Writing and the love of literature have been central in her life since early childhood, perhaps beginning when her father read poetry to her and her brother at bedtime. Her earliest public writings were skits she wrote for her friends to perform at occasions ranging from junior high talent shows to an annual entertainment program at Girl Scout summer camp.
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Praise
"BELLS FOR ELI, Susan Beckham Zurenda's finely detailed, debut novel paints a vivid portrait of Adeline Green who is growing up in the 1970s and maneuvering class differences, peer pressure, and first love. The sexual confines of her Southern town as well as taboo family secrets from the past, bring her face to face with life-changing decisions and losses in ways both moving and profound."
--Jill McCorkle, award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of LIFE AFTER LIFE

"A stunning debut, BELLS FOR ELI establishes Susan Beckham Zurenda as one of the most exciting new voices in Southern fiction. In this tender, beautifully-rendered novel, the powerful connection between cousins Delia and Eli takes them on a journey fraught with longing, desire, and heartbreak. Through loss, Delia comes to understand that the bonds of love can never truly be broken."
--Cassandra King Conroy, award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of five novels and the memoir TELL ME A STORY: MY LIFE WITH PAT CONROY

"Somewhere between Scout Finch and Mattie Ross comes the remarkable voice of Adeline Green in Susan Beckham Zurenda's BELLS FOR ELI. This is a heartwarming story of two families--their triumphs and tribulations--all of it enveloped, really, in love and compassion. Zurenda knows the human heart, and her narrator knows the human soul."
--George Singleton, author of STAFF PICKS

"Susan Beckham Zurenda's exquisite debut novel transports readers into the small-town South of a supposedly simpler time and place where tragic circumstances and malicious consequences shouldn't happen. With genuine emotion and mastery of atmosphere and action, BELLS FOR ELI is a consummate story of determination and love prevailing in a world where cruelty and exclusion threaten to dominate. Stories of the heart don't get any better than this."
--Mary Alice Monroe, award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of THE SUMMER GUESTS

My Review
Bells for Eli by Susan Beckham Zurenda is a coming of age novel that can be read by YA and adults. It tells the story of first cousins Ellison Winfield and Adeline( Delia) Green who live across the street from each other. When she drops out of college in 1978 and returns to her home in South Carolina her parents are confused as to why she dropped out. Not sure what she is going to do, her parents try to encourage her to return but she is adamant about staying home. 

When the cousins were both three  Eli swallows lye his father has left unattended but by the time they reach adulthood, he is handsome and healthy, but also reckless. They have a close almost forbidden relationship that carries over into their adult relationship.
Eli is not accepted at school and is bullied and Delia spends her time defending him.

This story is so sweet, I became engrossed in the story and became to love both characters. Eli makes the mother in me come out. I wanted to reach out to Eli and protect him from himself. Unfortunately, that did not happen. 
The author writes a descriptive and engrossing gothic novel that will appeal to anyone who reads it. I highly recommend it!