Marti

Marti Lumbard Johnson is a 35-year-old schoolteacher from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who—after his father committed suicide twenty years ago—changed his name from Martin to Marti because he did not want to bear the name of a man who he believed was a coward. Yet Marti has spent much of his life subscribing to lessons and views instilled in him by his father, one of which is his questioning the existence of God. When his co-worker of nearly four years, Leslie Mitchell, turned best friend, and consequently, the woman with whom he has fallen in love, yet who has never expressed any romantic notions toward him, comes back from summer vacation a Christian, Marti is forced to confront his own spirituality. However, he first finds distraction in the lovely Sasha, a beautiful woman who is ten years his junior. Marti is the story of divorce and estrangement and forgiveness and most especially, love, the need and desire for love—the love of a good woman, love of family, and the love of God.