Critics' Praise for A Single Desperate Prayer
An honest, sometimes raw account of a young girl's first years as a street kid that is both heartbreaking and life - affirming - A SINGLE DESPERATE PRAYER makes readers believe that faith can take you far. Ultimately A SINGLE DESPERATE PRAYER is an uplifting memoir of one person's journey to faith and how love guided her to it.
As a little girl, the author is sent to knock on neighbors' doors for drug-making ingredients. When the author is given a puppy, she lets it fall out the window, because there's not enough food for another mouth. Eventually orphaned—a blessing?—she thrives in state care. In a charming passage, Ritz discovers Jesus as she learns to read. That said, religion is not the subject of this book. Its a candid, clear-eyed guide into the everyday horror of a young life in post-Soviet Ukraine. The frank prose is tough, tender, and full of grace.