The Blue Ribbon

How many of us have a secret caller, a memory of an old love we cherish in the dark private moments before sleep, a lover that comes to us in the privacy of our dreams? For Alana Ruth Trainor that caller is carpenter Matt Alexander. Lana worked as Matt’s apprentice in 1988 and they became lovers within months, sharing daily life for the next year and a half until they separated. The Blue Ribbon, a debut novel set in northern California, memorializes the love and suffering between Matt and Lana, two deeply wounded people. The book asserts that there is beauty in pain faced honestly, and that true love transcends romantic failure.

Lana begins her story in 1999 when she meets Matt by chance after seven years apart; they are each married to other people. Lana tries friendship with Matt, but as her marriage deteriorates she sinks into fond memories of their past together and her behavior lapses. Tempted to begin an extramarital affair with Matt, Lana consults her old journals where she discovers the painful truth about their history. She gathers insight about her wounds and the wounds she has caused others. She also reconnects with her younger self who resolved never to live in an abusive home.

Lana asks her husband Keith to leave after he threatens her in an angry outburst. She agrees to attend counseling with him, hoping to save her marriage and create stability for their daughter. Lana could reject her marriage altogether and reunite with Matt. Is she willing to gamble that an affair between them would end differently this time? Would a liaison with him be merely a way to ease her pain? Lana must answer these questions and make a choice, bearing in mind the impact this choice will have on her beloved daughter. Her final decision shows that she has faced the truth about herself and changed enough to avoid her past mistakes.

Status: Novel manuscript completed. Willing to consider agent representation.