Happy Monday! I’m back! Actually, I was back last week but just couldn’t open my window. Have you ever been on vacation and returned home needing a vacation? Last week was my post-vacation vacation. But it’s good to be here at my window again, especially with the air getting crisper.
When I moved from the Midwest to the Carolinas, I was told by a Michigan transplant that where we came from, we hunker down and read in the winter because it’s too cold to go outside; in the South, we hunker down and read in the summer because it’s too hot to go outside. I think anytime you can hunker down and grab a book, it’s perfect.
So, whether you’re a winter reader or a summer reader, I’m excited to tell you about a book that should be on your TBR (To Be Read) list. Today’s Book Review Monday! book is the debut novel, Crossings, by Laurel Ferejohn. I’ve mentioned before I’m blessed to be friends with other writers and Laurel is one of them, and in this case, I was privileged to read her novel before it was published! It’s coming out in December and at the end of my post I’ll tell you how you can pre-order it. You’ll want to meet Valetta, Tomby. Lily, Miss Mori and several other memorable characters.
Crossings takes place on a Marine base in beautiful Hawaii in 1968, with the Vietnam War in full swing. Ferejohn opens her novel with a harrowing scene just off the beach, and the tension of needing to break free carries through the rest of the story.
Valetta is a recent high school graduate and newly married to Dixon, stationed on the base. It’s a new life in a strange, new place far from home for Val. Faced with a series of challenges, she struggles to work through. Tomby, another Marine, has challenges of his own that keep him from being a ‘Brother in the Corps’ with the rest of the guys. When Val and Tomby meet, there’s an instant friendship. As they each discover their true selves and the risks involved in breaking free of expectations and assumptions, they risk trusting each other and count on one another for support and secrecy.
Valetta’s relationships with the other wives on the base aren’t as tight, as Val resists getting too close to anyone. Yet the four women find common ground over drinks and trips to the beach. In the end, it’s these loose friendships with the other wives that might save her.
The timeframe for the story is short, just several months, which adds to the tension. The year itself also has its own built-in tension that keeps the story moving forward: the war and the protests, the rippling effect of The Feminine Mystique and the women’s movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and all the cultural changes in music and the arts. While the author doesn’t overpack all of this into her story, she scatters nuggets throughout which makes reading Crossings like peeking into a time capsule–the couples play The Doors and Bobbie Darin (on LPs, and 45s of course), wear clothing that many of us remember, and headlines make their way to the base that the characters comment on. Laurel captures the feeling of the time.
Crossings is a thought-provoking book. The characters don’t make choices simply to follow their dreams; they’re forced to decide between keeping the status quo or being truly authentic to themselves. Ferejohn layers that tension with moments of lightness and surprises that brought a smile to this reader’s face. In Crossings, it’s all about relationships, choices and risk, and Laurel deftly mixes and matches characters that had me experiencing compassion, frustration, curiosity, suspense, and above all, joy and hope.
I’m thankful to Laurel for letting me have a sneak peek. Next week I’ll interview her so you’ll get to meet The Writer Behind the Words and find out some of the inside scoop on where the story came from (that was a surprise to me!) and some deeper insights into the characters.
Crossings will be released on December 8, just in time for holiday gift-giving. I have my real copy pre-ordered, and here is where you can pre-order, too.
I hope you’ll join me next week at my window when I introduce you to my friend and author, Laurel Ferejohn.
I’m ready to break out the warm apple cider, pumpkin donuts, and comfy sweaters. The temps aren’t quite there for the sweaters, but there’s promise in the air. It’s nice having the windows open finally. May you have a wonderful week.
