Sand In My Eyes

Twenty years ago, Anna Hott thought she could control everything-her crumbling marriage, her demanding children, her hectic life-by quitting her high-paced job in New York City and moving her family to tranquil Sanibel Island, Florida. But she brought her untamed emotions, her rage toward her cheating husband, and her yearning to write a novel with her. When her husband and children left the house for a week, Anna thought at last she would get her household, her novel, and her mind in order. Instead, her elderly neighbor Fedelina Aurelio knocked on her door bearing flowers and homespun wisdom, and when Fedelina's recently divorced son arrived, Anna had a test of passion and a test of truth. Now, at 56 with an empty nest, Anna Hott pulls out the incomplete manuscript she started that memorable week and-to find closure for her life and a conclusion for her novel-travels to Indiana to visit Fedelina who lives in a nursing home.

Christine's wonderful novel within a novel with two generations of women resonated deeply with me.  I so remembered Anna's descriptions of life when her children were young and those feelings.  And so identified with her feelings as her children have left the nest and all that goes with that as a woman and mother!  I loved her relationship with her older neighbor and was fortunate to have a few older mentors in my life.  I appreciated what they brought to my life as a young wife and mother and would love to return the favor to those young moms coming behind me.   I loved the letters written to children and as I said in another review,  I have the desire to restart that tradition.  If you like books about women's relationships or mothering at all ages, you will enjoy this story.

Read the first chapter here.

About Christine...

Christine Lemmon is the author of three novels - Sanibel Scribbles, Portion of the Sea, and Sand in My Eyes, and the gift book, Whisper from the Ocean. She has lived all over the country writing for radio, newspaper, television and magazine.

She currently lives with her husband and three children on Sanibel Island, a subtropical island off Florida's Gulf Coast, which is the setting for her novels. She gets most of her inspiration while biking, kayaking or walking around the island, and watching sunsets with her family, but then she must hold her ideas until night, when her children are sleeping and she can write.

Christine is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs and women's groups where she discusses writing and creativity. She is writing her next novel. Her website blogs appear as columns in the ISLAND SUN.

Thank you to Carrie Winsett and Greenleaf Book Group for sending me a review copy.