When Joy Came Home To Stay

The novel "When Joy Came Home to Stay" had very sad, happy, and confused moments throughout the story. Maggie Johnson was just in college when she got pregnant for her daughter Amanda Joy. She did not want to tell her parents that she was pregnant so she moved to live with Nancy and Dan Taylor, which were friends' of Maggie's family and decided to give the baby up for adoption. Maggie moved back to Cleveland, Ohio once she gave birth to her daughter.

Maggie had met Ben Stovall at a community church picnic while they were still in highscool. They started dating while they were both in college. The week before Maggie's school dance, Ben called and told her that he was not going to be able to attend because a close friend's, which happened to be his ex-girlfriend, mom had been in a bad wreck and killed. Ben had told Maggie that his ex-girlfriend and her family needed him there through the tough time. Maggie got upset, and evientually moved in with two friends. Maggie started dating John McFadden. A few months after they began dating, she found out she was pregnant. When she told John, he got mad and left. That's when Maggie decided to move to live with Nancy and Dan Taylor until she had her baby. A few days before Maggie left to go live with them, Ben had called saying that he is sorry for everything and how he would like another chance. Maggie told Ben that she was going to attend another college in a different country.

Maggie moved back to Cleveland, Ohio once she had given birth to her daughter. She soon called Ben, saying she had just gotten back from overseas, and they began dating. After a while of them dating, they got married. Maggie was unable to have kids, so they were foster parents. Over the next eight years everything seemed normal to Ben about Maggie. They were involved at the Cleveland Community Church. Maggie had an older lady, Laura Thompson, praying over her so she would stay in the will of God. Maggie later began acting strange, not wanting to leave the house. Maggie surprised him one day saying he didn't really know the "Maggie Stovall" that he married. About a week after she told him that, he came home to find Maggie not home. She had left him a note explaining that she had checked herself into the Orchard's Psychiatric Hospital, but none of this was because of him.

Ben over the next few months began digging deeper so he could find out who the true Maggie was. He began by calling Madeline, Maggie's mother. Madeline said she did not know anything about Maggie's breakdown. She just told Ben that John McFadden might know something about her breakdown because they were dating about eight or nine years ago. Ben went and found John McFadden. He was at the bar he owned, a real gross and scary eviroment. John had told Ben that Maggie had gotten pregnant by him. Ben could not believe him because Maggie had told Ben that she was a virgin until they were married. Ben then went back to see Madeline; Madeline handed