Let’s cap off Autism Acceptance Month, shall we?
My friend Donna Levin, who taught fiction writing for two decades at the University of California Extension at Berkeley, has a new novel coming out next week that is so good. It is a true page turner with an autism family story line, the kind that will make your heart stop in several places.
The book, There’s More Than One Way Home, is a perfect book club book, and it’s been optioned for film.
The story in a nutshell
Anna Kagen seems to have it all: She’s young, beautiful, and married to a wealthy, prominent man. But within the walls of her San Francisco mansion, she spends her time dodging her husband’s barbs and hunting down potential friends for her son, Jack, a 10-year-old on the autistic spectrum. That old life suddenly seems idyllic when, on a school field trip, she makes the small error in judgment that sets in motion a chain of events that leads to another boy’s death. Suddenly Jack is a suspect, her husband’s career is in jeopardy, and Anna has to choose between loyalty to her son…and what may be her one chance at happiness.
Donna will be reading from her book at Books Inc. in Opera Plaza in San Francisco this coming Sunday afternoon, 3-5. Apparently there will be good food and wine!.
If you are a Bay Area person, you should go not just for the wine and food, but because you’ll love Donna. She is a great storyteller, extremely relatable and very, very funny. Since she is a writing teacher, I think she would be unhappy that I used so many adjectives.
I hope to see you there!
Laura