The Heart of the Matter
by E J Shelley
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10-year-old Sammy has a secret.
By age 3, he could Houdini his way out of a buttoned-up outfit while his mother was tying his shoes. And by 4, he’d started cutting his own hair.
But he was 6 years old before he found the words and the courage to say out loud: “I’m a boy.”
When his father leaves suddenly, Sammy and his mother are left to rebuild their lives.
Guided more by their losses than their dreams, they move to a place they wouldn’t have chosen and find themselves at the center of a family they never expected.
Will the comfort and companionship be temporary? Or did the sharp detours life threw their way serve to bring them home?
This is a story of prejudice, loss, and pain—but also of devotion, friendship, hope, and unexpected love.
It’s about the transition of a child, and the transformation of everyone who loves him.
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