Sunday Confessions: A Fictionalized Conversation about Sexual Victimization, a Theology Professor, and Recovery Inspired by Actual People and Events

When mother of three, Rachel Adamo, unexpectedly encounters her former theology school professor, Jay Winchester, at a memorial service, memories of past sexual victimization by Jay and others are triggered. Rachel decides to share her story with her young adult daughter, Jennifer, a recent college graduate who has returned home to heal from a broken heart. Rachel senses, without knowing why, that their mother-daughter relationship will improve, and that Jennifer can benefit from knowing Rachel’s past. The two women spend six consecutive Sunday mornings in conversation about rape, Jay and other men, sexual exploitation, and the road to recovery. In the process, Jennifer is empowered to reveal her own hidden truth. Sunday Confessions is a fictionalized story of sexual violence and recovery based on actual people and events. The characters’ stories disclose the reality that perpetrators are everywhere – in universities, workplaces, neighborhoods, and even in schools.

Rebecca Patton Falco has degrees from Duke and Emory Universities in psychology, history, theology, and law. Her articles have been published in Adoption Today magazine and the 2002 Adoptive Families Together Anthology. Rebecca's first book, Everything In Its Own Time, a mother's memoir about adopting five children and the ones that got away, has received awards and honors from Next Generation Indie Book Awards, International Book Awards, and USA Best Books, 2011. She's a former high school social studies teacher, youth minister, litigation associate, coordinator of sexual assault support services, and branch director of an open adoption agency. Atlanta resident, Rebecca is an author, attorney, athlete, adoption advocate and activist for causes involving women, children and issues of equality. She's a wife to John Falco and adoptive mother to Emily, K.J., Skye, Journey and Becton.