A 2019 Golden Crown Literary Society Award nominee.
2018 – She doesn’t know if a marriage is worth fighting for.
Peyton Kennedy quantifies everything in terms of numbers and risk. She looks at a problem and solves it, leaving no piece of the puzzle out. When her young, too-whimsical wife inherits a derelict farmhouse from a distant aunt, Peyton can only see the bottom line. Too much work. Too much money. Time. Energy. Definitely not worth saving.
But her wife knows how to get her way and Peyton finds herself roped into renovations. This… this may be the straw that breaks her marriage’s back, and Peyton’s worried about how not worried that makes her.
That is, until a seventy-year-old bundle of letters and a time-worn diary fall on her head.
Before she knows it, Peyton is drawn into the story of her wife’s great aunt, Marty, a woman who dared defy social conventions for the love of another woman.
1939 – She doesn’t know what love is.
Marty Bell thinks life will fall neatly into place. Her mother has expectations: A husband, wealthy enough to give Marty security for the rest of her days. When she meets a beautiful circus worker who shovels dung and pounds stakes for a living, it’s the first time Marty sees that she can stray from the path.
Soon, her life is dictated by not just her mother, but the upheaval of war and the one thing she never expected to find: love.
And Marty will risk anything and everything to hold onto it.
Contemporary and historical lesbian romance intertwine in this emotional tale of a diary, an elephant, and four women who know that few things matter more than finding someone who loves them just the way they are.
Critical Reviews
Sheena at The Lesbian Review: Jea Hawkins did a great job of creating subtleties in each of the characters so that they become like friends. You won’t read a story like this again. It was a completely unique, gentle and memorable book.
Julie at Omnivore Bibliosaur: Jea Hawkin’s immersive contemporary/historical novel delivers a blend of romance and discovery as storylines alternate in time. Read with a box of tissues close at hand.
Tasha at Sweet’n Our Ink: The character development was done beautifully, the pace of each story was perfect. I fell in love with these women and their stories.
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