An edgy novel about mental illness, set in the 1950s, Alameda's Awakening outlines the cognitive dissonance of a young violinist tormented by her strict religious faith. Although dreaming of joining a convent, she obsesses over the atheistic town doctor. When she discovers her best friend is pregnant by rape, her life cycles out of control. Her secrets and sense of guilt escalate as she begins to self-injure. An epidemic at the local meatpacking factory draws her closer to the doctor and farther from her faith, forcing Ada to change ... or be lost in her mental prison forever.