Portrait of Paloma

A chance encounter at a coffee shop door — a young woman of unusual promise and haunting problems, a widower grieving and lonely in the wake of a forty-year marriage — strange candidates for romance and adventure? Not necessarily. From this casual meeting springs a May-November odyssey into distant lands, dark corners of the soul, and high places of the human spirit.Exploring a man’s reactions, both base and noble, as the passion he feels conflicts with the path he knows he must take, Portrait of Paloma is a compelling story of lust and loyalty, friendship and survival, an intimate look at a woman’s quest to conquer her past, and an older man’s need to help her do so.

“…I’d divided Paloma into alter egos. One I’d bought, and I was getting my money’s worth…But the other persona attracted me more, the friend with whom I shared so many enthusiasms. She was the one I was courting—and sighing over—even as I guiltily made love to the first…”

An engaging debut novel that is at heart a love story, Portrait of Paloma is also a provocative tale of gender, generation, and what two people can learn when they trust each other enough to bridge the divides of both.