Who is Jess Peacock from Heat and Light: A Novel?

Pastor Jess Peacock runs the church Living Waters, which is “in the center of town, in an old storefront” (62). It was Jess’s late husband, Wesley Peacock, who started the church. After he passed away in his early thirties, Jess went back to seminary school and became the preacher. Each Sunday, she is hopeful more people will attend and sets out a dozen or so chairs. Jess wears an “elegant pantsuit” to preach each Sunday and run Bible study on Tuesdays, but otherwise she dresses more casually. She is tall and friendly, and throughout the novel, as she pursues a relationship with the rig manager Herc, but as sees no other friends or family, it is clear that she is also lonely.