When religious leaders preach one way and act the complete opposite, when people turn the other cheek on someone who needs help, and when parents become estranged to each other, a seven-year-old girl struggles to find the meaning of it all and tries to understand the madness that surrounds her. The story of a young girl named Nora brings to light a place predominantly inhabited by devout Christians. As a little girl who lived on a farm with her siblings and parents, Nora learned the type of people living in their town, people who are wrapped around their own follies and bigotry. Nora's views on religion, humanity, and life are greatly influenced by her mother and grandmother, and she discovers, in a hard way, that the nature of humanity is ruled by cruelty and hypocrisy. In My Heart and Mind by Marti Lyons is a wonderful book with a very profound and deep message to its readers. Its text is filled with words of integrity, righteousness, and virtues that will teach, or remind, you to be real and treat others like you want to be treated. Lyons writes, and very effectively so, about living in the most positive way.