In Beck-Clark’s debut novel, a group of troubled people try a quirky method of spiritual and psychological healing in order to get on with their lives.

In 1973, Michelle Cooper is a 23-year-old who’s lost in life and into drugs, booze, and casual sex; she’s later stalked by a White supremacist named Paul Smith. Ida and Al Birnbaum are both Holocaust survivors. Theo Gafoor is an optimistic young Black immigrant to the United States from Guyana. Charles Rogen, who later changed his last name to Wentworth, is also a Holocaust survivor and the founder of a telephone counseling service known as Call and Pray. More importantly, he’s the creator of the Rogen Treatment Program—a series of dramatic, challenging treatments that shock the other characters into overcoming their fears, thus freeing themselves. Most of them wind up stronger after the Rogen Treatment Program, although the story takes some odd turns, as when a character becomes pregnant from a one-night stand with a drug abuser. Beck-Clark, a retired social worker, tells a tale that seems to believe in the efficacy of the fictional program, but many readers will be dubious. In fact, most jurisdictions would probably shut it down, and for good reason: Rogen comes off as half savior and half sadist, with a program that would invite serious psychological damage. The case of Al, who improbably becomes a Nazi for a time, is almost humorous, as further treatment manages to reverse this effect. Another character is miraculously cured of their lifelong antisemitism in a twist that particularly strains credulity. There are also some loose ends, including a lack of clarity regarding a pact between two major players. All that said, Beck-Clark does a good job of developing her cast, especially Michelle, who has the infuriating habit of taking one step forward and two steps back.

A well-intentioned and uneven novel—but one that, on balance, is worth a read.