Dodging Satan
My Irish/Italian,
Sometimes Awesome,
but Mostly Creepy Childhood
By Kathleen Z McCormick
The humorous coming-of-age award-winning book.
An impressionable 1970s child, Bridget Flaherty is frightened by Catholic iconography—the snakes at Mary’s feet multiply in her dresser drawers. The devil is everywhere. Sexuality, garlic, even leather handbags are sources of family anxieties, not to mention Irish and Italian conflicts. Bridget creates supernatural worlds to resolve the tensions of real life, performing exorcisms, creating relics, and discovering the “holy” in holy water.
Italian relatives—glamorous Santa Anna, abused Aunt Maria, sophisticated Eleanor—offer sensual alternatives to the repression of her immediate family. As Bridget discovers feminism, her precarious religious world is threatened.
Caught between the Church and the larger world, Bridget’s time-travelling Virgin Mary helps her enter adolescence with a new awareness and independence.
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Awards
Rubery Book Award, 2020, Fiction Finalist
Independent Press Award, 2019, Humor & Wit
Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year, 2016, Gold Medal in Humor
Topshelf Indie Book Award, 2019, First Place in First Novels Under 60,000 words
Foreword Reviews INDIES, 2016 Finalist in Religion
Illlumination Book Awards, 2017, Bronze Medal in Catholic Books
(Pope Francis won gold)
ELit Bronze Medal in Humor, 2017
NYC Big Book Award, 2017, Silver Medal in Humor
Colorado Independent Pub Assoc., EVVY Awards, 2016, Gold Medal in Religion & Spirituality; Silver in Humor
International Book Awards Finalist, 2018
Reader's Favorite, 2018, Bronze Medal for Fiction--Religious Themed
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Praise for Dodging Satan
“McCormick illuminates what is often hidden with delicate details and unaffected language that resonates with all readers.”
-Italian Americana
“There’s magic in this world—and while we are charmed by its glow, we are also unsettled again and again by the darkness behind that glow.”
–Edvige Giunta
“There were times when I had tears rolling down my cheeks. 'Dodging Satan' promises to be one of those books that will change you in ways you'll never forget."
"Exceptionally well written with wit and weirdness, 'Dodging Satan' is a consistently compelling read from beginning to end. One of those unusual and unique novels, Dodging Satan will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf."
-The Midwest Book Review
“Dodging Satan manages to be both theological and comical. Indeed, it finds comedy in theology, even and especially when it’s taking theology seriously.”
-Commonweal, Anthony Domestico
“As Bridget, Kathleen Zamboni McCormick narrates what she witnesses through a young girl’s voice, and marvellously captures the confusion Bridget feels… I… have the greatest admiration and respect for both this author and her book, a book I wish I had written!”
“Can’t stop laughing. The young protagonist has a weird, eccentric way of saying things and seeing the world around her, but she has a very vivid intelligence as well. "
- Romuald Dzemo, youdreamawake.com
“‘Dodging Satan’ is comedic, gothic, symbolic, and sharp. Much like burgeoning womanhood, it presents a girl’s coming-of-age as fast and messy and provides a hopeful resolution that takes the rest of one’s life to untangle.”
- South Carolina Review
“Kathleen Zamboni McCormick welcome to the arena of the finest in contemporary comedic writing. Her future is assured.”
-Grady Harp, Amazon Top 100 Reviewer, Vine Voice
“Epiphanies await Bridget throughout Dodging Satan, and such well-drawn, jaw-dropping moments are significant for the ways that they promote a rethinking of the role of a 'good little girl.'“
-Foreward Reviews
From Dodging Satan