Welcome to my website
| On May 5th the Utah—Best of State Awards announced that Waiting for the Light to Change has received the medal for best fiction. |  |
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Waiting for the Light to Change won the Whitney Award for General Fiction on April 25th 2009 |
Dear Readers,
Welcome to my website. My big news is the June launch of my first novel, Waiting for the Light to Change. I’m very excited and hope you will be too.
Of course, the question that everyone asks is “what’s the book about?” I’ve tried to create a realistic school setting and an energetic cast of characters who will generate hours of talk around dinner table and in the faculty lounge. But the book is also the story of a mother and a daughter who is a miserably shy girl just starting the ninth grade. As a high school teacher, I watched those odd, lonely students who drifted in and out of my classroom, and thought more than once, thank heaven that girl doesn’t live in my home. It’s a short step to wonder, “what if she did?”
Veteran teachers, obnoxious students, wonderful students, a new romance, and an ex-husband, who complicates everything, wander across the pages. The main character, Sarah, has a fatal flaw, which drives the plot. She demonizes people who throw her world out of balance. If the book has a theme, that’s it, polarization. Empathy has gotten lost as our world becomes more deeply divided along political, economic, religious, and ethnic lines—even in families. As the plot totters perilously close to disaster, Sarah discovers that she’s paid a big price for holding onto her flawed assumptions too tightly. You can view Sarah through the eyes of her friend, her ex-husband, her daughter, and her nemesis when you click on characters’ observations. There’s even a short note from Sarah about me, the author.
Is the book autobiographical? That’s the second question friends ask. I have taken my own experiences, plus other teachers’ stories, twisted and manipulated them until they fit into my plot. If you see yourself in the book, you probably grew up in a small town.
I’ve created a list of questions to help book clubs have a meaningful discussion. If you live within a hundred miles of Holladay, Utah, I would love to attend your book group; if not, I would be delighted to join you via speakerphone. I welcome your comments at annette_haws@yahoo.com (don’t forget the underscore between annette and haws).
Enjoy!
Annette
