One moment of temptation. Years of separation.
How much of the truth does she dare to confess?

Following her missionary husband’s death, Stefania Patterson, has returned to America and to her best friends from college, affectionately dubbed The Cracked Quartet. Thirteen years earlier, Stefania and Joe left their three children with relatives to protect them from disease and unrest in central Africa. At least, that’s what she told everyone.

However.

Stefania lives with the guilt of one unguarded moment and cannot forgive herself, which leaves her sleepwalking through life. She’s convinced the loss of her children is God’s punishment.

Even though she doesn’t deserve it, she longs to reconnect with Colin, Nathan, and Lila. It may be an impossible mission, especially when it comes to her daughter who has made it clear Stefania is not welcome in her life.

With the help of the Cracked Quartet’s “Operation Reconciliation,” Stefania gathers courage to reach out to her adult children.

But she’ll have to come clean about her past—or she’ll never be free of its burden. AMAZON

 

The rubella epidemic of 1964-65. The Vietnam War.

Both converge on twelve-year-old Debbie when her sister is born with disabilities and her father may be flying into danger.

Labeled as a “rubella baby,” Debbie’s sister Krista is born blind in one eye and with a hole in her heart. Although she survives risky open-heart surgery, months pass, and she doesn’t babble or crawl like most babies do. Doctors decide Krista is cognitively challenged—she’ll never be able to learn—and they advise her parents to put her in an institution. Just forget about her and raise their three “normal”kids.

Not on Debbie’s watch. She’s sure Krista is deaf, but no one will believe a kid.

Along with all the medical drama, Debbie must deal with problems at school—best friends who move away, mean girls who don’t, bullies, and boyfriends. Refusing to give in to self-pity, she soldiers on as Krista’s champion.

However, Debbie’s optimism falters when her father’s next orders will send him to the war in Vietnam. Can she hang tough for her mother, keep helping Krista, and prepare for life without Dad, possibly forever?  AMAZON

 

 How can an Air Force kid survive junior high when her dad’s at war, her little sister is deaf, and friends have abandoned her?

It’s 1967 and Debbie Hansen hates her life. She has to leave all of her New York friends, move to California’s Mojave Desert, then back to New York, all because her dad will be sent to Vietnam for a year. And three out of five pilots never come home. Debbie could be fatherless before she starts high school.

Her only comfort? She’d have her old friends to lean on if the worst happened. Wrong. When Debbie returns to her hometown, she finds the group moved on without her. She tries to reconnect, but their message is clear—NOT interested.

Living under the shadows of war, Debbie and her brothers mask their fears by acting out in anger toward each other until a final showdown erupts into near tragedy. Meanwhile, Mom forbids Debbie to teach Krista sign language. “Experts” say deaf children need to speak. Debbie defies them.

Krista is the only one who’s happy. She blossoms in her world without sound. Before Dad returns, if he returns, Debbie needs to choose—she can keep struggling to earn a place with the “in crowd,” or she can learn to dance with her sister in the silence. AMAZON

Debbie Hansen thought things would get better once her dad returned from the Vietnam War, but life seems to be matching up with the title of one of the hit movies of the year, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
THE GOOD:
Dad is alive and well.

THE BAD:
Krista, her deaf little sister, is trapped in a world without sound and communicates through tantrums if people don’t understand her attempts to speak.

THE UGLY:
The meanest girl of the “in-group” from Debbie’s class hates her guts, which leaves her with only one faithful friend. Maybe.

Debbie only wants two things: to teach Krista to talk and to be accepted back into the group where she used to be—before her dad went to war.

How can she help Krista understand English, much less speak it, if no one allows the poor kid to learn sign language? And will Debbie continue to keep quiet under the Mean Queen’s snarky abuse, or will she screw up the courage to speak through her self-imposed silence? AMAZON