In The Shadow of the Smokestack - coming soon!
In the Shadow of the Smokestack follows a Lewiston French-Canadian family that struggles with generational trauma. Kate is the golden-child who successfully chased a life far from Lewiston, but she cannot resist the pull to return home when she suspects her younger sister, a new single mom, has relapsed into drug use. Once Kate returns home and realizes the lies she’s been told all her life, she completely unravels. In the Shadow of the Smokestack is the saga of three generations of fallible Franco-American women fighting to save their family, and to heal it before the next generation is caught in their cycle of pain.
Dee is living a charmed life in Connecticut until she and her son are taken hostage while on a college visit in her hometown of Lewiston, Maine. When Dee recognizes her captor, she is forced to face her secret-filled past. The French-Canadian, Catholic community of her youth is filled with betrayals, abandonment, and secret pregnancies. How will she reveal her shameful past to her husband, son, and friends?
Dee makes the hard decision to face her truth and begins a quest to uncover the answers to questions she never dared ask as a child. We meet Dee’s and the young captor’s ancestors who set the tone for the future generations of each of their families. Dee’s father is a master manipulator, and we see how he has forever marked the lives of his best friend and high school girlfriend. As the reader follows Dee, her younger parents, and their friends, The Toll Road North explores the universal truth that we all create our adult persona, and often, no one in our present world really understands where we came from.
Cover photo courtesy of The Maine Turnpike Authority.
Peggy L. DeBlois
Writer
Peggy Lafreniere DeBlois grew up in Lewiston, Maine and is a proud graduate of Bowdoin College. She enjoyed careers in marketing, journalism, and teaching prior to devoting her time to writing. The Toll Road North is her first novel, and she continues to be inspired by the gritty beauty in her hometown.
PeggyLDeBlois.com
Facebook/Instagram: @PeggyLDeBloisWriter
Twitter:@PeggyLDeBlois
Author photo credit: Suzette Morin Photography
