Sara Lyons has deep secrets that no one in her family know about. When a neighbor notifies Sara's niece Janice that Sara's been missing for the past few days, it leads her family to discover that they know very little about her and what kind of person she was.

This story is about Sara's journey from childhood to adult, which is riddled with traumatic events in her personal life. She becomes pregnant at a young age and is forced to have an abortion that leads to a hysterectomy. Following that, her parents, seeing no other path for her, force her into a marriage with a man who turns out to be a violent abuser. We learn about a secret relationship she has with another woman -- something that was very taboo during her time. And of her second marriage to a gentle man who's involved with secret government projects.

BEYOND ALL DESIRING is the kind of book that makes you realize that you're not the first generation to discover everything. Yes, our parents, aunts and uncles all basically did the same things we did growing up. They have a past and secrets we're likely never to know. I thought this was a fantastic book that looks into the life of a woman who didn't conform to the rules of society in her time. Sara was her own woman and she marched to her own beat. I found that I didn't like her family much, especially having learned so much about the type of woman she was, but that's part of it as well. Her family judges her based on what they see and know, but no one can truly know exactly what kind of a life a person lives. A wonderfully realistic story about a woman who's the odd one out in her family but in the end is the one who makes a major difference in their lives.