Footsteps
The genesis of this standalone bookThe Baby Quilt began after my father died at the age of ninety-two. I found a shoebox in an old steamer trunk stashed in the back of a long closet. The box was secured with a white satin ribbon tied up with a bow. The box was filled with hand-written love letters as he courted my mom from afar traveling from one mining town to another in Alaska. Each sweet letter talked about his work in the mines starting with a date and the name of the mining town as he worked his way through college receiving a B.S. diploma in Mining Engineering, 1923, University of Washington, Seattle Washington.
With a fictional story in mind, I started my research following his footsteps by car, plane, and dogsled through the coal, gold, and copper mines of Alaska. It was thirty-nine years later that I untied the white ribbon for a second time and strode along with him through Alaska’s mining towns penning The Baby Quilt.
The fictional story of this standalone book, The Message, was triggered by an event that happened to me and my family beginning the morning of December 29, 1999. My family, including my nine-year-old grandson Matthew, threw wine bottles, each containing a message, into the Atlantic Ocean off the beach of Newburyport, Massachusetts. A year and four months later, Matthew’s bottle was found by a young boy by the name of Matthieu who was with his grandmother on the beach Saint Jean de Monts, France. Matthieu’s English teacher, Marie, placed a call, the telephone number written on the message in the bottle, from the Headmaster’s office, Pornic, France, to Matthew’s home in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA. The connection, shore to shore, was made.
While this story is fiction, names and people changed, it all started that cold December day when my family threw 5 bottles in the ocean and one was found on the coast of France.
For more than twelve years the circumstances surrounding the bottle’s journey remained in my file drawer. I knew there was a story waiting to be written, but it wasn’t until my grandsons grew to young men that my muse was released.
If you like dramatic suspense, emotional ups and downs, and ordinary people in extraordinary situations, then you’ll love Footsteps, Box Set.
Buy Footsteps, romantic cozy mysteries, today!
The Baby Quilt
An old photo with a hidden clue. A house that may hold the answers. Can one real estate agent unravel her past and find a love that will set her free?
The Message
He tossed a bottle into the ocean. She found a message she couldn’t resist. Did destiny bring them together across the divide?
