The Rapture of Canaan

Blurb

The Rapture of Canaan is a novel by Sheri Reynolds. The book was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in April 1997.
Adolescent Ninah lives in a strict fundamentalist Christian community led by her grandfather Herman. The community is governed by a series of strict rules covering everything from drinking to speaking to people outside of the community, with punishments ranging from sleeping on stinging nettles to spending a night in a grave.
Despite the rules, Ninah cannot stop herself from falling in love with James, a boy a year older who is also her nephew by marriage. The community allows Ninah and James to become "prayer partners" in order that they can spend time with one another in the hopes of a future marriage. James and Ninah pray for Jesus to speak through them in order to help them defeat their attraction for one another, but eventually their physical attraction is too strong, and Ninah becomes pregnant, James, fearing punishment from the community, commits suicide. Ninah insists that Jesus, rather than James, is the father of the baby.