Mel lives in Ashtabula, Ohio, where she and her parents belong to the local Pentecostal church. They're evangelicals and charismatics and speakers-in-tongues. Mel is nearing 15 and, one of the more intelligent girls in her public school, she has the opportunity to attend an academic camp for the summer. The only catch? She has to read many of the books her church has forbidden its members to read-- like Wuthering Heights and-- that door to Satan's thoughts-- The Origin of Species. But Mel really wants to go, so she justifies a sort of lie and forges the permission slip, spending the rest of her time hiding her books in her ever-present backpack or under her bed. Devoted to her church, her pastor, and her family, she is certain that she will be able to argue Darwin's theories with her faith and her knowledge of the Bible-- she is, after all, a Bible Quiz champion. But as Mel reads on she begins to discover that her parents, her pastor, and her church aren't what she thought. And when he