ANNISTON, AL. — Author Susan Beckham Zurenda will visit the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County on Monday, Oct. 19, at 3 p.m. to discuss her newest novel, No Way Out but Through, a work of fiction inspired by the life of a woman who survived forced child marriage and abuse.
Released Aug. 18, No Way Out but Through follows two women from different generations whose relationship develops as they confront difficult experiences from their pasts. The novel centers on Grace Ferrall and author Shannon Irwin, who meet when Shannon agrees to tell Grace’s story.
Grace’s story begins with a troubled childhood in Louisiana before her family moves to Oklahoma. At barely 15, she is manipulated by her mother into marrying Rafe, an older man. Pregnant at 16, Grace later finds herself living in a truck in Oregon with Rafe’s family. After years of abuse, pregnancies and miscarriages, she eventually escapes with the assistance of an unlikely ally but continues facing difficult decisions as she tries to protect herself and her two daughters.
Running alongside Grace’s story is Shannon’s struggle with her own past. As trust develops between the women, Shannon reveals guilt and remorse connected to her former marriage and her relationship with her daughter. The novel explores how the two women’s willingness to share experiences they have previously kept private affects their relationship and their individual efforts toward healing.
Set in present-day Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and 1990s rural Oklahoma, the novel is inspired by the life of a real woman who survived circumstances involving child marriage and abuse.
The subject arrives amid renewed federal attention to child marriage. The Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2026 was introduced in the U.S. House as H.R. 9758 on July 16 and in the Senate as S. 5060 on July 21. As introduced, the legislation seeks to address child marriage through several federal measures. The congressional findings included in the Senate bill state that more than 314,000 minors were married in the United States between 2000 and 2021, with most married to adult men. The House measure was referred to the House committees on Education and Workforce and the Judiciary, while the Senate measure was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Zurenda taught English for 33 years at the college level and to Advanced Placement students at the high school level. Her debut novel, Bells for Eli, received several honors, including first place for Best First Book—Fiction in the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Her second novel, The Girl from the Red Rose Motel, received the 2024 Patricia Winn Award in Southern Fiction and won first place for Southeast Fiction in the 2024 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Zurenda has also twice received the South Carolina Fiction Prize for her short fiction.
Zurenda lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The Oct. 19 program at the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County begins at 3 p.m.
