Set in a blue-collar neighborhood of North Minneapolis in 1972, Ask Me Not This, Little Child if You Love Me is a stunning, heart-warming story about 2 young men who triumph over the pain of childhood sexual abuse and find love and happiness.

Tom Odegaard, a quiet 30-year-old accountant, quits his job to do something more meaningful, and is appointed the director of Nicollet Creek Recreation Center. The Center, headquartered in a tiny ice-skating warming house, is dominated by a group of aggressive and angry teenagers led by 16-year-old Wum Jespersen. Wum and his group have given the Center a bad name and made it difficult to run programs for younger kids.

Despite the veneer of anti-social behavior, Wum’s strengths are obvious to Tom, who hires Wum to work part-time at the Center. The activities for kids attract a following, and Wum’s friends get drawn in and involved, as well, despite their mistrust of Tom.

On a winter day, at dusk, Tom finds a little girl named Susie Halvorsen hunched over in a corner of the warming house, head hidden in her arms, crying. When Tom asks her why, she tells him her feet are so cold and they hurt so much. He takes off her skates and socks, checks for frostbite, finds none, and offers to rub her feet to warm them up. She tells him her dad used to do that for her.

From then on, whenever Tom turns around, Susie is there. When she finds out that Tom eats dinner at a local diner, Susie is perturbed. “You need to eat with a family,” she tells him. Susie marches home, right up to her mother, and demands that she invite Tom to eat dinners with them. Tom is reluctant to impose on the Halvorsen family, but Susie won’t take no for an answer. mas1027tofoy&33eh#$675

One subzero night, Wum is missing. When Tom finds him along the Creek, up past the bend under the bushes, Wum has slashed his arms and lies in the snow, too drunk to walk. Tom stanches the bleeding, carries Wum back to the Center, calls an ambulance, and goes with Wum to the Hospital.

The two become close, and Wum tells Tom that he had been sexually abused as a child. With Tom’s support and friendship, Wum’s emotional wounds begin to heal. But Eve, Wum’s childhood sweetheart, is concerned. Wum is having sex with as many girls as he can, and Eve has broken up with him. At her urging, Tom confronts Wum, and tries to help him understand that he doesn’t have to try to prove his manhood.

But Wum realizes that Tom’s understanding of his ordeal didn’t come from nowhere. Wum confronts him: “It happened to you, too, didn’t it?"

Even though Tom goes into a deep depression, he stays connected to his job, Wum, and the kids at the Center. Wum knows what Tom is going through, and as their friendship develops further, it becomes a source of strength for Tom.

But things don’t get easier for Tom. Some people in the neighborhood are furious that he has given Wum a job, and that he has blown the whistle on a groundskeeper who violated fire safety regulations. The groundskeeper organizes a group that tries to get Tom fired. But then Tom’s house burns down, and the groundskeeper becomes an arson suspect.

When Tom comes to work the day after the fire, Susie tells him, “I saw about your house on TV. I told Mom we have to rent you our spare room. She said OK.” Tom moves in with Susie’s family, and finds himself growing very fond of Georgia Halvorsen. But he feels that he is unclean, and would never be worthy of her.

Nonetheless, Tom is a positive, calming influence on Georgia, Susie, and her younger brother. Georgia comes to admire and respect Tom. But she has her own conflict. She married young, and although her husband was a kind man, he was dominating. She misses her husband, but she is also enjoying her newfound freedom – even though she feels guilty about it.

How these conflicts play out makes a fascinating, heart-warming story. Ask Me Not This, Little Child if You Love Me is an inspirational book about love and the psychology of relationships. You’ll enjoy reading it, and you’ll get amazing insights into personal growth and happiness.