The Forgotten Son

Debut author BJ Sloan serves us hope and despair in this gripping coming-of-age tale set in 1970s rural Texas.

The kind-hearted delivery nurse had no way of knowing that her well-intentioned words would doom Bunny Boy Potts to a lifetime of ridicule. Well, that and the unfortunate way his ears stuck out like two ping-pong paddles.

Living with his unhinged single mother, his entire life is spent apologizing for existing while scraping by for enough to survive. Food and love-neither is freely available in the Potts' home, but the sharp sting of the strap is always on standby.

When Bunny meets Raquel, he thinks she could take him from scarecrow misfit to normal teen. Growing in the sunshine of her approval, Bunny even gets a job from his rancher neighbor, TC. For the first time in his life, Bunny can buy clothes that fit. He can eat enough to stave off the hunger that used to sing him to sleep every night. Along with a paycheck, he earns a nickname and the grudging respect of those around him as he begins to rise above the hand he's been dealt.

But Bunny Boy Potts wasn't meant to have a life like everyone else.