Jennifer Fromke

Today, I'd like to welcome Jennifer Fromke. I've asked her to tell us about her new book, A Familiar Shore. 

Jennifer, thanks for joining us today.

 

Thanks so much for hosting me! I’m excited to share my first novel with you and your readers today!

The story of Joseph inspired A Familiar Shore. I was studying that point in the story where Joseph stands before his brothers with the power to exact revenge on them or choose to restore the relationship. I wondered what that might look like in a contemporary setting, so that set the wheels in my mind turning. You many not recognize this story in the novel if I didn’t give you this heads up - it was merely an inspiration. Then I saw a stunning photograph taken by a friend. It depicted the bow of a yacht, bowlines swooping toward the dock and a sunset over the water behind it all. This picture gave me Popsie, one of the main characters in the novel. He’s an octogenarian who lives on a yacht, traveling around the southeast, wearing regrets from his past across his shoulders. My main character is his adopted daughter, Meg.

The story begins when Meg, a young lawyer, is hired by a friend of Popsie’s to write his will. But it’s an odd arrangement because Meg is not allowed to meet this client face to face and she must travel to meet his estranged family, deciding on her own, who deserves what in the client’s will.

I think my favorite characters from this novel are a pair of secondary characters. I have a pair of twins who crack me up. They seem a little unreal to begin with, but I think they tend to grow on readers as the story progresses. As a kid, I used to wish I had a twin, so it was fun to write them.

While there is no overt Christian content in A Familiar Shore, the story is informed by my faith and I think the Christian reader will be able to pull Christian themes from the material. The book is aimed at the general market, but is written with all the “taste” of a Christian novel. I feel strongly there is a need for solid stories in the general market, which don’t contain cussing, vampires, graphic sex and detailed violence/gore on the page. I think that’s what I’ve managed to do in A Familiar Shore.

Jennifer, thanks for visiting today.

If we get 12 comments, Jennifer is willing to give away a copy of A Familiar Shore.