Dear Reader,

I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey with Janeece and Kirk Crenshaw. Such enduring love as theirs is rare and to be treasured. I know you will miss the colorful characters you met along the way because I sure did hate to leave them when I finished writing the book.

In my next novella, Space, you will meet equally lovable, vulnerable characters in the Stowe family. This time, the parents have their twenty-nine-year-old daughter, Faith Kenyon, living with them. The once beautiful, “miracle child,”is a now a haggard, difficult, recovering drug addict, with all the problems and baggage that comes with that territory.

Deede and Dan Stowe, nearing retirement age, have worked and saved all throughout their marriage in order to enjoy unencumbered their well-deserved “golden years.” But with Faith’s constant presence, cloying neediness, and endless crisis, Deede and Dan find all their dreams of peace, a comfortable retirement, and togetherness stolen.

Faith not only is recovering from addictions but she has related criminal charges coming up, which require more financial assistance from the already fund-strapped family. Dan grows increasingly angry, resenting that he has become the sole supporter of this brilliant woman who has lost everything to her addiction habit, including husband and child. He also resents being forced into the role of “enabler.” He hates that his home is no longer his haven. He wants his space back.

At the same time, the mother sees Faith differently. She knows all Faith’s faults and failures but she feels there is still hope for a turnaround in their child’s life. But her heart, too, cries out for her own space and sometimes she wonders if she can hang in there much longer.

Thus, the parents’ opposing views reap dissension on the home front. It brews from day to day, tearing away at the foundation of their peace, security and marriage.

Faith feels the tension, too, and knows her father wants her gone but where can she go? There’s nowhere to turn. Is there a place for her anywhere?

All three family members grope and yearn for that much needed breathing space that each can call their own. And the parents ponder, is there ever a time when one gives up on a wayward adult child? Is one ever justified in handing that once precious child over to be locked in prison?

The emotions here are too complex for a simple solution. Can love, faith, and forgiveness heal this family’s dilemma?

Enjoy!

Emily Sue Harvey