Bookwild - Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suiter Clarke: Christian Fundamentalism, Patriarchal Power Structures and Internalized Mysoginy

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

This week, I talk with Amy Suiter Clarke about her newest psychological thriller Lay Your Body Down. Follow Amy on InstagramLay Your Body Down SynopsisA young woman returns to her rural Minnesota hometown, where a radical evangelical pastor has poisoned everyone’s minds—and may be covering up a murder. After Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. The man she loved, Lars, left her to marry the local golden girl Eve, and their romance is now the focus of Eve’s viral blog espousing the pastor’s conservative philosophy about women and marriage. But six years later, Lars is suddenly killed, and she’s convinced it couldn’t have been an accident.When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now mega-church—and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin—has grown not only in size but in influence. Eve was clearly discontent in her marriage, despite the carefully constructed “Noble Wife” positivity of her blog posts, and Del knows better than anyone just how far she will go to get what she wants. Del is determined to cut through the church’s lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars—even if it means confronting the religious trauma she’s spent years trying to bury. Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

If you follow me on Instagram or maybe listen to my other podcast with my friend Gare, Killing the Tea, you know by now that there is almost no story I love as much as taking down a toxic establishment. So when I read Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suter-Clark, I knew this was going to be one of my very top reads of 2023. I was so obsessed with the entire plot. the finale is perfection. And actually, since we're talking about it, here's the plot. A young woman returns to her rural Minnesota hometown where a radical evangelical pastor has poisoned everyone's minds and may be covering up a murder. After Del Walker fled her small hometown in its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. The man she loved, Lars, left her to marry the local

golden girl, Eve, and their romance is now the focus. of Eve's viral blog, espousing the pastor's conservative philosophy about women and marriage. But six years later, Larson is suddenly killed and she's convinced it couldn't have been an accident. When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now megachurch and the insidious patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin has grown not only in size but an influence. Eve was clearly discontent in her marriage, despite the carefully constructed noble wife positivity of her blog posts, and Del knows better than anyone just how far she will go to get what she wants. Del is determined to cut through the church's lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars,

even if it means confronting the religious trauma she spent years trying to bury. I could not put this book down. I was obsessed with Amy Souter Clark's voice throughout it and the way that she examined stuff like toxic religion and I could not put this book down. I was obsessed. I loves the conversation that I got to have with Amy about this book and about all the subjects that she covered from the patriarchy to deconstructing religion, reconstructing religion, and we even managed to talk about the Barbie movie. With that said, let's get into it.