I am so excited to share that The Widows’ Pact is now available!
I've had the plot for this novel in my head since before I completed Silver Heights. To finally have it done and out in the world is so exciting.
The idea hit me way back in 2015. I was living in Red Deer at the time, and my husband worked away during the summers, so I was often alone. I went to the movies by myself almost every week on cheap Tuesdays. One night when I was there, I noticed an elderly lady in line in front of me, also by herself. I wondered why she was there alone, and started imagining different scenarios of what her life was like. I went home and wrote what (after many tweaks and drafts) would become the first chapter of The Widows' Pact. Initially I planned for it to be a short story, but when I really started working on it I saw the potential for a full novel.
I love the characters in this book. It's a story of an unlikely friendship, healing, and secrets.--with many laughs in-between.
While this book is completely fictional, there are little crumbs of my life living in Red Deer that I sprinkled throughout; I used the condo my husband, Matt, and I lived in as the inspiration for where the main character, Lena lives. She also works as a newspaper receptionist, which is a job I had for a bit (we have different feelings about it!). I also set the novel in Red Deer, so the characters visit some familiar places to us local people, such as Bower Ponds.
There are other fun little things I worked in, some I didn't even realize I had until I read the story again months after finishing it!