I’m currently in the midst of doing extensive research for book #3, which is shaping up to be my best book yet (and very different from the first two). BUT, I felt the thrill of holding book #2, In Her Mother’s Shoes, for the first time this week, and I had to share it with all of you.

I’m almost as excited about the cover as I am about the book itself. Unlike with Autumn Colors, where I turned the cover design over to the publisher, the cover for In Her Mother’s Shoes is more personal. The background of letters consists of a collection of letters I found in my own mother’s attic – letters exchanged between her and my father and between her and other family and friends during World War II. The novel references the main character’s mother’s love of dancing. The shoes depicted on the cover were found with the boxes of letters – my mother’s dancing shoes!

The story is not autobiographical. But the theme is universal.  In Her Mother’s Shoes explores a woman’s relationships with her family both past and present. How do you stop the passage of destructive behaviors through generation after generation? First you have to recognize the behaviors and their effects. While it contains an element of romance, the focus is on intergenerational family dynamics.

Here is a brief synopsis:

Author Meredith Fields’ formerly placid suburban existence is shattering, and she’s not entirely unhappy about it. She feels guilty over placing her mother, Katherine, in a nursing home. Her husband, Keith, wants a divorce. She’s emotionally estranged from her children. And her next book is overdue.

As she sorts through her mother’s house before selling, she finds clues to Katherine’s shadowy past. She begins to understand why her mother related so poorly to her children and is shaken by parallels in her relationships with her own children.

When Meredith finds a journal she kept in her twenties, she is reminded of the love she once felt for Keith, and the extent of her loss settles in.  A series of crises forces them to confront their relationship, but will it be enough to put Meredith on the path to mending her shattered family and life?

In Her Mother’s Shoes is available in soft cover from B&N for $8.98 and Amazon for $12.99. The Kindle and Nook versions will be available later in June for $2.99. I’m currently working on getting it set for purchase of signed copies through my website, and hopefully that will be done in a week or so.