Friday, July 16, 2010

"Sea Escape"

Lynne Griffin is a nationally recognized expert on family life and an acclaimed novelist. She’s the author of the novel Life Without Summer and the nonfiction parenting guide Negotiation Generation. Her second novel Sea Escape was inspired by family letters, and chosen as an Indie Next List Notable and a top ten must read summer pick by Entertainment Weekly.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Sea Escape and reported the following:
Page 69 is the end of a pivotal chapter in Sea Escape. Laura is watching her brother’s commanding shape get smaller and smaller as he makes his way out of the ICU their mother Helen has been admitted to, after having had a devastating stroke. In truth, Laura doesn’t mind that he’s leaving, or that her mother is worn out enough to doze. When Laura is sure that Holden is gone and her mother is asleep, she pulls the letter her son stole from her parents’ beloved home Sea Escape from her bag.

Believing the beauty and sway of her father’s words have the power to heal, Laura reads the letters bedside to her mother—a woman who once spoke the language of fabric; of Peony Sky in Jade and Paradise Garden Sage—but who can’t or won’t speak to her now. As Laura delves deeper into her tangled family history, each letter revealing patchwork details of her parents’ marriage, she finds a common thread. A secret, mother and daughter unknowingly share.

Sea Escape is inspired by my own mother-daughter relationship, and portions of the love letters were written by my father in the early days of my parents’ romance. Yet Sea Escape is an imagined story; it’s about the strength of love, the power of hope, and the gift of forgiveness.
Read an excerpt of Sea Escape and learn more about the novel and Lynne Griffin’s other work by visiting her website.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue