Maybe, After To-morrow...

Description

Eve Emily Hanson's story is set in the surrounds of beautiful Cape Town, in apartheid-era South Africa. She shares this journey with her reader. Her family is Cape Coloured. Dysfunctional. She longs to grow up in a stable home with both her parents...take root. Just like her peers. Instead, her address and caregivers change like the seasons. Plucky Eve builds a 'love box' to store happier memories shared with her parents. When emotional neglect overwhelms her, this is where she finds comfort. Eve falls in love with Michael J. Moore. Believing she has found a soulmate, one who will fill the void left by her father's continued absence, and that her nomadic lifestyle will finally come to an end, she marries him. For many years their marriage is all he promised it would be and they are blessed with twin sons. Then, Mike takes to drink. Unbeknownst to him, a distraught Eve joins Al-Anon. Mike is livid when she tells all. He drives (one time too many) under the influence the next day. Crashes his vehicle. Dies. With the help of her best friend Grace and Jonathan, an Al-Anon member, Helping Hands-a project to assist women in abusive relationships-comes into being. Fate has not dealt Eve its last blow. Mike (Eve's then fiance) fathered a child while on a brief work assignment in Canada. News of his illegitimate sixteen-year-old daughter comes to light posthumously. Ever the optimist, she steadfastly believes there must be life after death, disillusion, and despair! Eve musters the courage to move forward. Maybe, after to-morrow...

JK Beukes emigrated from South Africa to Canada thirty-plus years ago and now lives in Ontario with her second husband. She has two daughters, two sons, three stepdaughters, seventeen (combined) grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. When at her computer, she enjoys crafting sentences, and is an avid crafter of jewelry, hooking, and knitting. Other fave pastimes include watching British television, reading, and spending time in her kitchen where she loves to experiment with new recipes found online and on television. She has been awarded several prizes at a local Fall Fair, the results of which are usually gifted to family and friends. The aroma of Rooibos tea--her preferred brew in the afternoon and anytime--evokes happy memories of her homeland. Maybe, After To-morrow... is her debut novel.