About the Books
The novels I write are the novels and stories I most like to read. My book ideas always start with a character I can’t stop thinking about. Wondering about. That character may not have been in the forefront of my thoughts for months, maybe even years. Especially if I’m working on another project. But it’s the ones that never go away, the characters that keep coming back. Like creatures behind the walls, their stories continue scratching in the night, demanding to break through until their persistence and their noise can no longer be overlooked.
The compelling characters in my most recent novel, THE SILENCE, have been with me for years – in my head and on page after page as I tried to capture their seemingly disparate lives. THE SILENCE tells the story of a well-liked parish priest and two very different women whose scarred lives are forever linked by a childhood tragedy. Headstrong Ruth Corrigan is a reckless rule-breaker driven by demons she can no longer ignore. As her life spirals downward she must find strength in an unwavering search for Truth. But it is an unspeakable truth no one can face. Refined Maddie Pardeau Klein is a loving wife and attentive mother whose carefully structured life is suddenly threatened by the long-buried guilt of shameful secrets. Both women struggle under the same “burden of truth.” Their explosive interaction will shock their families, friends and community.
My first novel, VANISHED, began with a most unlikely character, illiterate Aubrey Wallace, unloved all his life. Though he lived on the fringe of my consciousness, I’d known him forever. I’d seen him everywhere, scrabbling unnoticed through the days. I’d seen him on road crews, at flea markets. I’d be sitting in a restaurant and as the kitchen door swung open, there he’d be again, scraping food off diners’ plates. I knew he was decent and kind and that someday when there was no other choice, when he was most urgently needed he would be heroic.
When readers tell me they’ve felt the joy and disappointment of my characters I know I’ve told their stories well. I write about the people we all know and the people we all are. Desperate, loving, hungry for connection, amusing, insulting, annoying, insecure, bold, brave, timid, vengeful, foolish, fearful, funny, dangerous, profane, endearing, selfish, giving and when pushed to the brink, sometimes even heroic.
