Bøger af Priscilla Audette

Book III in the Jake and Dora series, One Weekend in Tombstone, takes place against the backdrop of the desert southwest, and unfinished business is the order of the day. In Sheltering in Place, Book I, spoiler alert, Jake and Dora ultimately go their separate ways. In Book II, Three Wednesdays, these two would-be lovers ended up being ships that passed in the night. But in Book III, there is hope for a happy reunion. Or is there? Now that the pandemic has somewhat subsided, Dora has decided to take a page out of Jake's book and, emulating his lifestyle, becomes a rambler too. But rather than divesting herself of all her possessions and taking off on foot, she buys a small RV and drives off into the heart of this great country to see what adventures it has to offer. Fate intervenes, and Jake and Dora meet once again, only to have him mysteriously disappear the following morning. False accusations, mistaken identities, and being a victim of circumstances all play a part in the disappearance. Refusing to believe she had been abandoned in a dusty little town by a man she thought she knew, Dora sifts through clues to try to solve the mystery.

In Priscilla Audette's first novel, where stylistically Erica Jong meets Nora Roberts, the reader will join in a madcap romp through the early years of the sexual revolution. Told through the eyes of a nineteen-year-old woman Seismic Influences is the story of a journey from innocence to knowledge. It is a period piece taking place in the early 1970s, an era that pulsed with the resurgence of sex: sex as power, sex as sport, sex as a means of profit, and for women, the beginnings of a remembering. Seismic Influences allows us to bypass our puritanical roots and to reach deeper into our psyches, into a more pagan time remembered only in our DNA The novel manifests elements of pop culture of the time (everything from Richard Nixon to Elvis) and confession. The main character, Joy-as in there was none in Mudville-works in a snack shop located in a Los Angeles suburb. As her story begins, Joy has just discovered a body. Although Seismic Influences is not a murder mystery, the presence of the body provides the story with a necessary philosophical fulcrum with mortality balancing on one end of the seesaw and a something-beyond-the-mere-mortal on the other. Not surprisingly, the ever-popular theme of good vs. evil appears in this story. But thanks to her naivety, Joy has difficulty distinguishing the good guys from the bad guys, which lends a madcap atmosphere to the goings-on. The particular "seismic influences" that are suggested by the title of the novel are all things of a vibrational nature that influence us either directly or indirectly. Earthquakes, of course, top the list for Californians, but the vibrational influences can be other things as well; music, for example, or even the tone of someone's voice. Indeed, the host of things between those extremes leaves the novel's title much room for symbolic maneuverability throughout the entire story. One recurring theme in the story is prostitution. The ancient unconscious memory of the sacred temple prostitute resonates. The modern bastardization of that holy profession, however, is what is thematic in the novel. The ring of housewife prostitutes mentioned at the beginning, seemingly in passing, actually comes full circle and has quite an impact on the conclusion of the story. The theme is significant because the prostitute-sacred or otherwise-is an intrinsic archetype to which all people, on one level or another, can relate. Because of this theme, and the murder, we see man in all his Neanderthal glory-the hunter of women, the hunter of other men, not to mention the hunter of the four-legged variety of prey. But more important than "man" in this story is "woman." The motif of the moon in all its phases and the character of Esther, a witchy wise woman, anchor this book in the female aspect of the collective unconscious. In addition to theme, the author has experimented with narration in this novel to the degree that there are, in essence, two narrators: there is the 19-year-old woman who is living the story, and there is the older woman who is looking back retrospectively. Quite often, through the use of language, the more mature narrator peeks through giving the story a depth it would lack if told only by the young woman. The novel's five parts are: I. The Meaning of Life; II. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures; III. The Peculiar Landscape; IV. The Borderland; V. The Totality.

Three Wednesdays, Book II in the Jake and Dora series, takes place during an extremely volatile time period in our nation's history. This novel interweaves Jake and Dora's two parallel lives after they parted company at the end of Sheltering in Place, and the reader wonders if they will ever meet again. On January 6, 2021, when Joe "Jake" Jacobson, in a dusty little town in Georgia, sees someone he used to know breaching the United States Capitol building on the television news during that now-infamous insurrection, a chain reaction of memories coalesces, and he realizes that same man may have been responsible for the murder of his wife and child years before. So begins his search for the truth. Meanwhile, Dora, still living and working in Maine, also witnesses history in the making on the television that fateful day. The two story lines (Jake's and Dora's) are full of adventure, intrigue, and suspense. Will Jake finally be able to close the final chapter of his tragic past so he can move forward into a fuller and richer life? Will Dora be waiting for him?

The first few months of 2020 consisted of a wild ride for most of the world. The spread of the coronavirus, resulting in a pandemic, the subsequent sheltering-in-place orders, and all that followed from economic collapse to violence and unrest are the backdrop of this story. Sheltering in Place exposes that wedge of history parallel with the more personal events going on in Dora Maxwell's life. Life in Maine, it seems, has made a sharp left turn, leaving Dora, if not stunned, at least dismayed. The imploding of the economy is the perfect symbol of the rapid disintegration of life as she knew it. The death of her husband and estrangement from her son are only the beginning. When Dora stumbles onto some bizarre happenings going on under her nose right next door, a mysterious stranger arrives on the scene to help. Jake is a drifter who has luckily wandered into the right place at the right time. When Dora witnesses her next-door neighbor's assault, the action really takes off, but it is the misunderstandings and misperceptions along the way that bring the thrills, chills, and plot twists. Surprises are the order of the day. Be aware that this is Book 1 in a series. There is more excitement to come!

Letters from Grace: The Story of an American Family is an intimate peek into the lives of the Quinn family. This story is akin to an anthropological excavation into what it means to be a family, celebrating said family in all its nuances. It is a story that will certainly appeal to your inner voyeur. When people die, they take with them a lifetime of secrets. Or do they? Letters from Grace begins after Grace has died. While this book begins with the death of Grace, it is not a distressing book. Death is part of life, and it is the knowledge that we gain after someone close to us dies that serves to enrich our lives, allowing us to live more fully. It is Grace's death that catapults the reader into the heart of this family. It is where we begin: her three grown children have returned to their childhood home to go through their mother's things and put the house on the market. As they sift through their mother's writings, all kept in an old file cabinet, they challenge each other to learn more about their dead mother by reading her canon of articles and letters. In doing so, Savannah, Austin, and Dakota inadvertently expose a secret that challenges the core of their relationships as siblings.