Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
Set in small town Ohio, in the 1970’s, Everything I Never Told You tells the story of the Lee family: father, James, a professor and Chinese-American; Marilyn, a blue-eyed blonde, and their three children, one of which has disappeared as the story opens. The investigation into sixteen-year-old Lydia’s disappearance and consequent death (not a spoiler, as […]
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves an intricate tale, with well-developed characters and relationships, and just when the reader wonders where it is all headed, the unthinkable happens. “Half of a Yellow Sun” is not a symbol I would have recognized before reading Adichie’s work. Now I know that it is integral to the Biafran war, and […]
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(As a final prompt for the writing class I am enrolled in, we are asked to think about signposts along the way. This is my entry.) The Tour Guide I take a seat at the back of the open wagon, and wait with a handful of others for the tour to begin. The country air […]
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Writing fiction is a stretch for me. I have experience with technical and instructional writing, poetry, and memoir, but seldom do I venture into the realm of fiction. So, when I signed up for an online writing class, I decided this would be my opportunity to take a risk. (The story referenced here was yesterday’s […]
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The brush felt awkward in Kate’s hand and she could feel her frustration mounting. The last time she had painted had been the twin’s room more than a year ago and that was because the boys had outgrown the pastels of the nursery. Now, here she sat, legs crossed on the floor with four other […]
Read MoreOne Step Too Far is a captivating story of one woman’s decision to walk away from her life and begin anew. Author Tina Seskis weaves an intricate story of love, unbearable pain, and redemption. As usual, I listened to the audio version expertly narrated by Lucy Gaskell and Nigel Pilkington, which helped delineate between passages […]
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There are some issues affecting our society today that feel too hot to handle, but not for author Angie Thomas. In her novel, The Hate U Give, Thomas bravely inserts her main character and narrator into the brutal drama of a black teen being shot by a white police officer. Still a child herself, sixteen […]
Read MoreInspiration for my writing often comes from the Dreamtime. I play with the words, find new meaning and typically create poetry, although some dreams offer up the basis for short stories. A recent nightmare is not cooperating with any attempts to break it down, and so I’ve decided to rewrite it in both prose (offered […]
Read MoreWhat an incredible story! Claire Fuller creates characters who are flawed and yet sympathetic. Meet Gil, an aging writer and incorrigible Lothario, who sudden obsession with books leads his daughters to be concerned about his state of mind. Meet Ingrid, his wife who has been missing for eleven years, presumed dead, and whose voice haunts […]
Read MoreI picked up the audio version for free; downloaded it ages ago, thinking one day I’d give it a listen, but was hesitant. I knew a movie had been made of Pat Conroy’s novel, but I hadn’t seen that either. Then I visited South Carolina, and it’s peculiar landscape intrigued me, and when a friend […]
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One Woman's Quest II 