Land Mines

Carolyn James' life looked great--new job teaching writing at a law school, 11 year marriage to a doctor, mother of a preteen son and daughter, living in a McMansion in suburban Boston. But she is thrown onto the land mines of separation, divorce and dating again when her husband leaves her for his yoga instructor, taking most of their money, stability, and what's left of her self-esteem. For the next three years, Carolyn keeps a divorce journal to cope and rebuild. From optimism to fear, and humor to sadness, Carolyn writes about her experiences with separation, divorce, and, eventually, dating again. The novel takes the reader into Carolyn's journal as she turns to self-reflection, self-help books, and the grace of God to navigate the ever-exploding land mines and get herself and her children safely through to the other side. The novel is in the form of Carolyn's journal, which she keeps to make sense of the changes confronting her. Besides working out her issues as she writes them down, Carolyn writes about the various books that she read to help herself. Therapeutic fiction blurs the lines between fiction and non-fiction because the books that Carolyn refers to are real. Readers can turn to those books as well to help themselves.