Amanita's Sin - by Karen Harvey (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Amanita Somerset, a spinster lady in the 1850s, makes an unforgivable mistake.

Her "sin" was giving birth to an illegitimate child. Her transgression is compounded by forsaking her daughter rather than face her domineering father. Troubled by her actions she finds purpose in St. Augustine and finds a home in which she dies in her attic room, occupied in 1985 by Phoebe King, a 14-year-old foster child. When Phoebe finds Amanita's journals and manuscript notes, she becomes absorbed in her work. Danger lurks everywhere by the presence of Phoebe's irrational father. Amanita's spiritual presence helps the foster child deal with insecurities as well as physical danger. Psychiatrist Max Manucy aids in bringing Phoebe to an understanding of her "sin." The scene is St. Augustine represented by two different centuries of history. As Phoebe learns more about Amanita through her writing she takes pictures of places described by her spiritual friend.