The Cicada Spring is focused on voices. There are so many voices in our lives and in the life of my heroine, Katie. At the beginning of the pandemic, Katie inherits her family’s home, where she is almost overwhelmed by the voices of the past that speak to her through objects: her mother’s mementos, quilts, her grandmother’s diary. While these objects don’t make actual sounds, their messages can still be heard and felt through other senses.
Katie’s best friends, the Beach Bonfire Babes, express their voices through their creativity: painting, arts and crafts, song, prayer. Not everyone’s inner voice is vocalized through words. Not everyone’s self-expression can be heard through an eardrum. Sometimes it’s seen or touched or experienced in myriad other ways. And this is why I created a character in the Potomac Shores series who is deaf and uses sign language to communicate. I look forward to sharing a variety of voices with you around the bonfire when my novel is published.