A literary fiction novel of secrets, redemption, and one woman’s final reckoning.
 
“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” —Oscar Wilde
 
Helen McAllister has spent her life in quiet service—tending a soup kitchen, nurturing a garden, hiding from a past she swore she’d never speak of again. But when a sudden illness leaves her with only days to live, Helen must face what she’s spent four decades burying: a secret so heavy, it’s shaped every corner of her life.
 
With her missionary daughter racing home from across the world and her priest sitting vigil at her bedside, Helen finally opens a wooden box that holds the truth about a missing girl named Anna, a mysterious young man with revolutionary ideas, and a decision that shattered more than one life.
 
Told in dual timelines—from 1980s Chicago to present-day Ohio—Absolution is a haunting, emotionally gripping story of forgiveness, legacy, and what it truly means to make peace with your past.
 
For fans of Kristin Hannah, Diane Chamberlain, and Elizabeth Berg, this debut novel by E.E. Lawson is a rich blend of literary suspense and women’s fiction—where every page asks: How do we move forward when the past won't let go?