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Restoration: A Novel (Contemporary / Women's Fiction)
Restoration: A Novel (Contemporary / Women's Fiction)
Restoration: A Novel (Contemporary / Women's Fiction)
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Restoration: A Novel (Contemporary / Women's Fiction)

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When life is shattered, you can live damaged or choose to repair it.

With a signed death warrant and final appeals running out, Tess Olsen anticipates the execution of the man her mother deserted her family for thirteen years ago. Randall Wright’s death will expel his disturbing legacy and return her mother to her; it’s as simple as that, or so she believes. But Randall Wright robbed her life of more than just her mother and like a splinter slowly and painfully working its way to the surface, those stolen pieces begin emerging.

Working as an art conservator in New York City, Tess keeps an emotional distance from co-workers. She has no close ties since isolating herself during her teen years when the tale of Randall Wright’s crimes, trial, and marriage to her mother was published in a Pulitzer Prize winning article. She yearns for the family she had and is unable to accept who they are now.

Tess is dating Ben Elliot, an art critic for the New York Times. The relationship both intrigues and unnerves her. Unlike men she’s dated in the past, Ben is more interested in her than her physical attributes and any sex she can offer. Although drawn to Ben, she is more comfortable with men like Kenyon LeMere, a brazen artist Ben introduces her to who has a reputation for translating his sexual liaisons into art.

Restoration chronicles Tess Olsen’s challenge to restore her life, relationships, and dreams back to the promise they held before Randall Wright.

The creative genesis for Restoration was an incident where a married woman divorced her husband and left her children to marry a death row inmate. The author wondered what would become of the children and how this would shape their lives. Restoration is a highly fictionalized account of her inner musings.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 18, 2013
ISBN9780985566364
Restoration: A Novel (Contemporary / Women's Fiction)
Author

Elaine D Walsh

Winner of the Chairman's award for excellence, Honorable Mention at the 2012 California Book Festival, and quarter finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards.Nimitz Highway and River Street is an intersection on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It is also the place I impatiently came out of the womb ready to start my own personal history. Plan A was the military vehicle whisking my laboring mother toward the base hospital for a traditional birth. That did not happen. Plan B has been my life since.I was one of two children but with my father being one of nine, I enjoyed the richness and craziness of growing up in a larger extended family. Being brought up Catholic I have an appreciation for the history and tradition of the church that stays with me although I did not stay with the church. My mother suffered bouts of guilt about birth control and other church teachings I never let bother me. I struggled in other ways, dealt with it, and moved on.Mom did her best to prepare me for life as a woman. Secretarial courses and domestic chores would prepare me to be a wife. Growing up in the flowering women’s rights movement as a child of the 70’s, we had differing ideas, and I had other plans. I went off to college in upstate New York majoring in psychology with the intent of being a “death & dying” counselor. This would be my paying job while I wrote the next great American novel. Plan B kicked in and I graduated with a B.A. in English, packed my car, and upset my parents by moving to Florida in search of my destiny.This is where you will find me now, along with tens of thousands of northern transplants who invaded the Sunshine State. I adopted the sports allegiances of my adopted home state (Tampa Bay Rays and Buccaneers) much to the chagrin of my New York Yankee baseball and football Giant family. Without ever having taken one business course, I created my own brand and became a successful business executive by day and women’s fiction writer by night. So far, I have lived a Lifetime Movie Network life, a mixture of extraordinary, ordinary, mundane, and terrifying, providing me great inspiration and fanning my creative flame.My father instilled in me a strong sense of family. Semper Fidelis is not only his beloved Marine Corp motto but also a guiding principle in his life. My family stood by me, accepted me, and supported me during my difficult times. Other times, we laughed and created memories. He brought to life the words unconditional love.From my mother, I gained an appreciation for the complexities of relationships and richness in life one finds exploring and experiencing everything from a recipe, to a historical site, to lunch with friends, or a glass of wine. Material possessions meant little to her. She was a collector of experiences. We journeyed together and grew as individuals and as mother-daughter. I shared her journeys battling cancer, surviving one and succumbing to another. In one of our last soulful conversations before she died, she told me she was glad I also had a daughter and she hoped I would enjoy my own daughter as much as she enjoyed me.Being a daughter, mother, friend, and soul mate are the most powerful influences in my life and my stories. But as a successful women’s fiction writer, does this surprise anyone?

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    Restoration - Elaine D Walsh

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