About Island Girl:
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade; Original edition (December 7, 2010)
Do you have to forgive someone a lifetime of sins, just because they have Alzheimer’s?
Island Girl by Lynda Simmons is the emotionally riveting story of a 55 year old mother, Ruby Donaldson, fighting to reunite her family as she struggles with the diagnosis of early on-set Alzheimer’s.
Facing the terrible reality of her illness, Ruby refuses to let the disease control her future. But before she can take any final action, she must find a way to convince her older daughter Liz to grow up and come home; to take her place as head of the family in order to secure the future of their home on the island, and ensure that Liz’s younger sister, Grace, will be cared for in the only place that is safe for her.
But Liz and Ruby are estranged for good reasons, and now Liz wonders why she should forgive her mother just because she’s sick. Does Alzheimer’s somehow grant Ruby instant immunity, a moral get-out-of-jail-free card?
Ruby always thought she’d have a lifetime to make things right, but suddenly time is running out.
“…Simmons exhibits an exquisitely deft understanding of the extraordinary difficulties that unitl a family, and her portrayals of the three women, told in alternating first-person chapters, enable satisfying connections with each.” Publisher’s Weekly
Read an excerpt of Island Girl HERE.
About Lynda Simmons:
Lynda Simmons is a writer by day, college instructor by night and a late sleeper on weekends. She grew up in Toronto reading Greek mythology, bringing home stray cats and making up stories about bodies in the basement. From an early age, her family knew she would either end up as a writer or the old lady with a hundred cats. As luck would have it, she married a man with allergies so writing it was.
With two daughters to raise, Lynda and her husband moved into a lovely two storey mortgage in Burlington, a small city on the water just outside Toronto. While the girls are grown and gone, Lynda and her husband are still there. And yes, there is a cat – a beautiful, if spoiled, Birman.
When she’s not writing or teaching, Lynda gives serious thought to using the treadmill in her basement. Fortunately, she’s found that if she waits long enough, something urgent will pop up and save her – like a phone call or an e-mail or a whistling kettle. Or even that cat just looking for a little more attention!
To learn more about Lynda and her work, visit her website, www.lyndasimmons.com, or check her out on Facebook.
Lynda Simmons TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, May 16th: Lit and Life
Tuesday, May 17th: A Library of My Own – author interview
Tuesday, May 17th: A Library of My Own – review
Wednesday, May 18th: Book Reviews by Molly
Thursday, May 19th: Acting Balanced
Friday, May 20th: Knowing the Difference
Monday, May 23rd: Life in Review
Tuesday, May 24th: Rundpinne
Wednesday, May 25th: Reviews from the Heart
Friday, May 27th: BookNAround
Tuesday, May 31st: Teresa’s Reading Corner – author guest post “Writer’s Block”
Tuesday, May 31st: Teresa’s Reading Corner – review
Wednesday, June 1st: Book Club Classics!
Monday, June 6th: A Cozy Reader’s Corner
Tuesday, June 7th: Book Dilettante
Wednesday, June 8th: Raging Bibliomania
Monday, June 13th: Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, June 14th: Peeking Between the Pages – author guest post “Deadline Hell”
Thursday, June 9th: Colloquium – author guest post “Making the Leap from Romance Shelves to the Deep Dark Woods of General Fiction”
Saturday, June 11th: Colloquium
Thursday, June 23rd: Hey, I Want to Read That