Jeanne Flynn-Morgan

After the death of her closest two friends, young Daphne Lessing suffers a loss of faith, then a lapse in memory. Confronted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a pregnancy she neither planned nor is able to explain, Daphne is forced into a terrible choice: lose her child or lose her mind. "The Substance of Things Hoped For" traces Daphne's desperate search for the past she cannot recall, the father she never had, and the child she may never know.

The courts of Englewood are as far removed from the hollowed halls of justice as a street ball player can imagine, but when a pickup game ends in death, the quest for revenge proves that even on the street there's a code of honor. Reggie's best friend is dead, and the pain of his loss leads the hardened player on a quest to ensure that the killer pays for his crime. Upon tracking the killer to a gym, Reggie enters, gun in hand and ready to avenge his friend's death. As the other players declare that no one will die on their court without a fair trial, they listen to both sides of the story to determine if justice will be served with a bullet, or whether the suspected killer will live to play another game.

A 17 year-old gang member is convicted and sentenced to live with a family that has lost their son to gang violence.