This religious novel explores the unusual juxtaposition of the lives of members of several Southern families, the “shackles” of alcoholism, and its extremely adverse impact on family and romantic relationships. It also demonstrates the power of prayer and conversion to Christianity and its positive effect in restoring damaged relationships by the resultant “shattered shackles”The lives of Jim Reid and his drinking buddy, John O'Banion, hit “rock bottom” in their marriages. Both started drinking at an early age. Jim was a habitual drunkard, poor provider, and often an absentee husband and father of 6 children. The oldest, Billy, disappeared and was never found. Jim was often unemployed and often slept in box cars, under bridges, in the back of saloons, or wherever he could find a place. When his wife Lola died, Jim stayed with the children for awhile but eventually alcoholism took its hold and Jim left his children on their own. While searching for the “man in black” who presided over the funeral of Lola, the children were discovered and went to live with Ben and Sarah Barton. It turned out that the “man in black” was actually the uncle of Sarah, Rev. Jack Delaney (“Uncle Jack”). He and wife, Mae, had raised Sarah and her sister, Bessie, after their parents were killed in an automobile accident. This led to the re-discovery of the children's father Jim, his conversion to Christianity after a young man handed him a tract containing Rev. Delaney's name, and the happy re-uniting with the children. Meanwhile, John was a terrible, mean husband to Alice, one of Jim's nieces. He had beat up his wife on occasion and had even pulled a gun on Alice's mother and “acted like a wild man”. John was re-united with his old drinking buddy, Jim, after John came to Rev. Delaney to preside over the funeral of the death of his newborn child. This eventually led to John seeking to have his “shackles” of alcoholism “shattered” through his pursuit of Christianity. Another family that incurred the “shackles” of alcoholism was the Greene family. Alton Greene discovered Jim passed out drunk in in alley, which led to Jim's hospitalization and dangerous illness for several days. Alton had serious alcoholism issues that eventually led to his commitment to a mental institution for 11 months. He and his twin brother, Bud, became hopeless alcoholics at barely 20 years old. Alton was devastated when Bud was killed when struck by an automobile, and even contemplated suicide. Their sister, Rachal, had an unfortunate romance unknowingly to a married man and had a child out of wedlock.Alton fell in love with Sarah's sister and a niece of Rev. Delaney, Bessie, and had several dates. He had initially seen her singing on the street about the love of God. Bessie was much younger than Alton and their romance was adversely impacted by Alton's alcoholism and the fact that he was not a Christian. Jim, meanwhile fell in love with Alton's sister, Rachal, but had to deal with the fact that, even though she was now a Christian, she had been an unwed mother.This religious novel explores the unusual juxtaposition of the lives of members of several Southern families, the “shackles” of alcoholism, and its extremely adverse impact on family and romantic relationships. It also demonstrates the power of prayer, coupled with acts of faith and coincidental events, in “shattering the shackles” of alcohol through Christian conversion, restoring damaged relationships, and changing lives forever.
