02/04/2012 7:00 pm
Location:
- Street:
- 1200 11th St
- City:
- Bellingham ,
- Province:
- Washington
- Postal Code:
- 98225-7015
- Country:
- United States
As the Second World War escalates, Anne Calloway forgoes a sheltered, privileged existence as a Seattle bride-to-be to join the Army Nurse Corps for a stint on a Bora-Bora air base and a life as dangerous as it is exciting. Despite her recent engagement back home, Anne becomes intrigued with a handsome soldier named Westry, whose brooding, bookish ways hint at a soulful nature. Together they discover an abandoned bungalow hidden amidst lush shoreline vegetation. The structure shelters not only the ethereal bloom of new romance, but an artwork with a potentially astonishing provenance. When the cruelties of war intervene, Anne’s idyll is cut short. Returning to a semblance of her former life—and self—she is a woman forever haunted by shadows of love and loss.
In the twilight of her years, a letter postmarked Tahiti calls her back to the scene of the heights of her feeling and the depths of her despair. "If you ever plan to visit the island again, there is something of yours I found here," the missive entices. "Something you might like to see again." Accompanied by her granddaughter, will Anne have the strength to confront the past and right lingering wrongs?
Sarah Jio is the author of The Violets of March and a journalist who has written for Glamour, Real Simple, O, The Oprah Magazine, Redbook, and many other publications. She lives in Seattle with her husband and three children.
2012 Chuckanut Writers Conference
