Towards the Shore: A Novel
Author
Kris Holloway
Author Bio
Kris Holloway was born and raised in Mississippi, where she still resides with her husband, fifteen year old son, a ten year old dachshund, and two cats. She has a master’s degree in mathematics, and for the past fifteen years, she has taught high school and community college. Since mathematicians are notoriously unstable and teachers are ridiculously underpaid, she uses writing as her creative and therapeutic outlet!
When she isn’t teaching or writing, Kris enjoys hiking, road trips, landscape photography, and contemplating life. She firmly believes that nothing of importance should occur before ten o’clock in the morning and that Chacos, much to her family’s chagrin, go with everything. If she could have any other job in the world, she would join the cast of Saturday Night Live. Recently, in an effort to escape the oppressive summers of the Deep South, she and her husband purchased off the grid land in Montana (manifest destiny, baby). She plans to spend her summers there unplugged (but with wireless internet and a computer, of course).
Towards the Shore is Kris’ first novel, but she is currently at work on her second. She loves to hear from readers! Send her a tweet, a Facebook message, or an old fashioned email any time at kdholloway42@gmail.com.
Description
“It’s never the happy times that define us. It’s the tragedies that leave a mark.” Those are the words that draw Xan Brooks, a young Georgetown psychologist, into Kate Alston’s world.
Eight years after the loss of her only child, Kate wants nothing more than to avoid her past. She devotes every waking moment of her time to her career as a pediatric geneticist. The only exceptions are lunch on Wednesdays and sex two nights a week. Unable to cope when the man with whom she spends those exceptions suddenly wants more from her, Kate finally forces herself into therapy.
Unnerved by his reluctant patient, Xan convinces Kate to communicate through a series of journal entries, starting with her mother’s suicide and culminating in her daughter’s disappearance. When Kate’s narratives strike a little too close to home, Xan is appalled to find he has so much in common with this woman who, by her own admission, doesn’t live by the same set of rules as most of the world. The signs of impending doom in his current relationship are unmistakable, his mother rarely recognizes him, and he blames himself for his sister’s death. How can he help Kate when he can’t face his own demons?
As for Kate, she’s not sure she even wants to face her past. Talking about it won’t change it. And when she starts really looking back on it all, there isn’t much to be proud of. There’s the pot smoking in high school, the shacking up in college, the failed marriage, and the adulterous affair that she fully intends to take to her grave. And that only scratches the surface of her transgressions. All she knows is that thanks to Xan Brooks, she can’t go back to the way things were. But can she move forward? Can she own up to her part in her failed marriage and the loss of her daughter? Or will the weight of her past prove too much to overcome?
Spanning more than three decades, TOWARDS THE SHORE unfolds in a fast-paced and emotional tale of loss, betrayal, and the struggle to carry on in the wake of personal tragedy.
Book excerpt
Kate
Most people believe wholeheartedly the greatest lie ever told to humanity: that everything happens for a reason. I envy those people. They seem so content, at peace with the knowledge that they’re living the life for which they were destined. My life? My life is a train wreck. I wish I could blame some mystical force, but I know it’s my own fault. I just don’t know how to fix it.
The clock on the mahogany writing desk snags my attention. I wonder what he would do if I threw it against the wall. The way it ticks off the seconds like an old-fashioned metronome drives me to distraction. I try to focus on something else instead.
This is a game we play. He asks a question; I give him what I believe to be a perfectly sufficient answer. He stares at me for several long, ticking moments to see if I’m going to say anything more. Up until now, I’ve always waited him out. This time, because he seems unusually exasperated with me and because the clock is making me more anxious than usual, I break the silence.
“Does this trick ever work for you?”
His fingers are steepled beneath his chin, his posture relaxed. I’m sure he’s sitting this way on purpose. Everything about him seems deliberate. I would bet good money there was some profound reason he chose to wear those particular socks with the paisley designs today.
He sighs. For a moment, his practiced posture slips, and I catch a glimpse of the man he could be outside the office. “Actually, it works almost every time with everyone except you.”
“Well, I do like to be different.”
“Clarification – it works for everyone except you and sullen adolescent boys.”
“I think that’s the very first time in our relationship that you’ve insulted me. We may have a breakthrough yet today.”
“I doubt that,” he mutters. “Look, Kate. You have been coming to see me for a month now, and what I know about you could fit on an index card.”
My right eyebrow lifts a bit. “A three and a half by five, four by six, or five by seven?”
“Why do you ask such specific questions?”
“Because I want to know the specific answer. Why don’t you ask more specific questions? You hardly even ask questions. You say things like, ‘Tell me how that made you feel.’ What the hell kind of adult even says things like that?”
“The kind who gets paid $200 an hour to say things like that. My point is that you are indeed paying me a nice chunk of money for these sessions. Personally, I enjoy what we have going here. It’s one of the quietest hours of my week, but I don’t think it’s doing much for you. If you aren’t comfortable talking to me, maybe we should find someone with whom you’ll be more comfortable.”
It would be just like me to get fired from my own shrink.
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Towards the Shore: A Novel