THE BEST PRESENT EVER: A SINNER'S GUIDE TO THE HOLY LAND
Forthcoming spring 2021. Pre-oder here.
An Irish-Englishman living in Los Angeles doesn’t know what to get his difficult to please Mexican-American wife for Christmas. It’s getting worse every year and he’s had enough. He draws a line in the sand. He's told her repeatedly he doesn’t want to join her and her parents on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but not knowing what else to give her for Christmas, he secretly signs up, puts the receipt in a box, and gives her the gift of himself.
THE BEST PRESENT EVER transports readers to one of the most fascinating places in the world and reveals some of the most cherished shrines in all of Christianity, not through the eyes of a scripture-quoting pastor or history-gushing travel writer, but an everyman Catholic struggling not to judge his fellow pilgrims. Laced with humor, purposefully non-preachy (the epigraphs that introduce each chapter have been chosen for their literary quality, not to prostelize the Catholic faith), and infused with admiration for the inner beauty and strength of women, readers feel the narrator’s restlessness, share in his struggles and joys, relax in his poetic sensibility, and walk in his shoes, as he slowly becomes part of the group.
Over 11 days in late-February/early-March, readers experience the unexpected beauty of Israel, the ubiquitous hawkers and noise, a pre-dawn re-enactment of the Way of the Cross, a night-time lovers’ tiptoe across the rooftops of Old Jerusalem, an authentic Catholic confession, and the narrator’s impromptu afternoon odyssey through the poverty-stricken Arab district of Jerusalem, where, searching for a way to move beyond the anger he still feels about 9/11, he receives a gift he could never have imagined.
Written for believers and non-believers, Americans and non-Americans, men and women, young and old, this unique spiritual quest story is not just for Catholics, it’s for anyone searching for a more loving heart.
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THE PURPLE PIT
This novel was completed in spring 2020. I will be seeking an agent/publisher soon.
A romantic comedy set in London, Los Angeles, Paris, and Lyon in the late-1980s, THE PURPLE PIT tells the true story of the night a London boy with Irish parents first met a shy, 20-year-old, go-go dancing asthmatic from California at a nightclub in Camden to the day they were married three years later.
Packed with laughter, despair, faith, and letters -- the young lovers' correspondence is reproduced verbatim with poor spelling/grammar/punctuation/spacing intact -- readers will marvel at the man's ineptitude, sigh at the girl's travails, and experience the heartache and joy of falling in love with someone 6,000 miles away.
THE PURPLE PIT
This novel was completed in spring 2020. I will be seeking an agent/publisher soon.
A romantic comedy set in London, Los Angeles, Paris, and Lyon in the late-1980s, THE PURPLE PIT tells the true story of the night a London boy with Irish parents first met a shy, 20-year-old, go-go dancing asthmatic from California at a nightclub in Camden to the day they were married three years later.
Packed with laughter, despair, faith, and letters -- the young lovers' correspondence is reproduced verbatim with poor spelling/grammar/punctuation/spacing intact -- readers will marvel at the man's ineptitude, sigh at the girl's travails, and experience the heartache and joy of falling in love with someone 6,000 miles away.
