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Novel
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Beth is a tough–minded but optimistic college student when she returns to her hometown in Massachusetts to work in a nursing home for the summer. She plans to make money for college tuition while caring for the elderly. Over the next three months, her experiences at Liberty Home—the need to prove herself to the other aides, the grinding physical work, the fragile new friendships—merge to create a portrait of the terrible truths and odd beauty of growing older.
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Short Stories
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“The Things You Take, The Things You Leave”
Natural Bridge, Issue 19, Spring 2008
Eleanor, a woman dealing with alcoholism and transience, decides to return to the house she shared with her husband. Once there, she must face the remains of their marriage and the hard reality of making her own choice. |
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Hospital Drive, 2007
Beth learns that another aide has been inflicting a cruel humiliation on one of the patients, but the aide justifies it as fair retribution for snotty behavior and tells her own story of arrogance and punishment. Beth explores further, and discovers other unseen stories and an aide struggling to hide a violent secret. |
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Square Lake, 2004
Tania nearly breaks down after losing money in the grimy laundromat across from her motel. Tania’s desperation prompts Nina to share a few words of advice, but this brief exchange ends in a lost opportunity for both women. |
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"Ultimate Cassandra"
Out of Line, 2003
Cassie warns her hometown about the changes Isabella and Richard West are making to the farm they bought as a second home. People ignore Cassie until they realize the changes have rippled throughout Lone Hill, but Cassie does not give up. She decides to rally a group of townspeople to block further damage. |
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