Westward: The Novel, is my fifth book, and second novel and is due to be released sometime in the second half of 2018. Although I have written about families in the past, this is the first time I have also told a love story which unfolds throughout this book.
In Westward: The Novel, a woman with four young children is suddenly widowed, at the beginning of her husband's second career, which is as an attorney. She believes that she must return to work to support the family. Her concerns are magnified by the fact that both her parents, and her in-laws are dead also. With the help of neighbors and friends, she starts a new job, and slowly begins to carve a new normal for them all.
Westward: The Novel is the story of how she meets these specific challenges, and then copes with the obstacles presented involving the meeting of the second great love of her life. It is also the story of how she learns and makes missteps in the gradual process of relinquishing control of her life and that of her young family to another man.
Meanwhile, the
second great love of her life has never been married or had children, and although he is eager and willing to learn, life has brought less obvious challenges for him too.
The story is intended to be an inspiring, sweet at times, realistic but also optimistic look at life, love and the blending and resiliency of families. Most of us have known a period of time in which we lost almost everything only to redefine ourselves and start again. This is the story of one such woman, and her family.