Island Quilts

About the Book

Tara and Alex Asher arrive at a major mid-life decision having found that the stress of urban life as University professors is denying them the kind of lifestyle they desire.

The couple decides to accept the offer of Tara's maternal grandmother to share her home on a mid-Atlantic barrier island for a year.  The Island House is the setting of the previous novel in this companion piece to Letty. Alex will continue his research for publication and teach part time in a small mainland college while Tara begins work on her second historical novel.

Their teenage children, Michael, 17, and Miranda, 13, accompany them

Through Gran's efforts, Tara and her family become involved with a series of family journals. These journals have been kept over several centuries dating back to one of a Spanish Conquistador whose words are still affecting his descendants.

As they become more and more enmeshed in the personal histories of the Islanders, they learn

about themselves and their personal quest for meaning in their lives.

The rugged environment of the barrier island acquaints them with the forces of nature and man's relationship to them. The story includes a vivid storm scene, gleaned from personal experience, in which the dividing line between land and water vanishes.

In the course of the story, Tara learns to accept her change of life and life style as her daughter moves into womanhood, and Gran faces the problems of old age and loss.

Alex and Michael support each other as the child becomes a man, and the man begins to fashion a new life for himself.

The Ashers become entangled  in questions concerning loving, giving, and  balance and the responsibilities of personal freedom, the underlying themes of the book.  The Islanders assist the Ashers in learning about the patterns of life that we all quilt for ourselves.

About the Author

Remy Benoit holds degrees in history from the Pennsylvania State University and from West Chester University. She taught her subject for many years and then began home schooling her own children and writing historical fiction while working independently with teenagers and Veterans of the Vietnam War. It is her feeling that in the hands of today's young people there is an unprecedented opportunity for paving the way to global peace and understanding. In working together with Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder she would like to open a national dialogue for understanding, coming together, and healing. She resides in Louisiana with her daughter and son, a Lhasa Apso named Gypsy and a cat called Norman. She has written three other books: Letty, Pastiche, and Peace, Now. She will be teaching a seminar using history for writing and healing at mystic-ink.com