When She Woke (Hillary Jordan)

This novel sets the story of 'A Scarlet Letter" in a too-believable future. The religious right has become dominant in the US, with Roe v Wade overturned and abortion a crime in most states. To relieve prison costs and overcrowding, most criminals are "chromed": a genetic treatment turns their skins vivid colors to indicate their crime. Hannah is a young woman from a devout family, trying to be as devout as she can, when she falls for the charismatic pastor of a megachurch (who goes on to become the nation's Secretary of Faith). The attraction is mutual, though they both know he cannot give up wife, church, and position for her. When Hannah becomes pregnant she has the child aborted, and when her crime is discovered and she refuses to name the doctor or the father, she is convicted of murder and wakes up bright red. Her pathway back to becoming herself and finding forgiveness (and finding God again in a new way) fills the rest of the book. The tale was gripping, though slightly simplistic (the good people were often unbelievably good, the bad ones unbelievably bad). I did appreciate the author's refusal to paint all religious people with the same narrow minded, bigoted brush.