Find the Celebration
Book Description
Find the Celebration in Life. Every Day. This is the story of how two women, a grandmother (Betty) and her granddaughter (Ava), search for happiness and love amidst personal struggles as they experience life in the French Quarter, New Orleans – Betty in 1942 during World War II, and Ava seventy years later. The book explores how living in a new place can alter your perspective on love, your relationships, and the path you choose for your life.
It’s 1942 and the world is changing. Young men – including Betty’s new husband Bob – are enlisting in the military and going off to war. Betty feels trapped in her small town surrounded by mountains – where she’s spent the first twenty years of her life. Her ambitions to be a writer and to travel to new places have been squashed by her family, who only believe in a life built on manual labor and keeping the family dairy farm business going. When the opportunity arises to accompany Bob to his naval basic training, and to send him off when his ship sails from the port of New Orleans, Betty seizes it.
Seventy years later, Ava is mourning the loss of her gram Betty, the most important woman in her life, and is shaken by how much her own world has changed. She’s dealt with a breast cancer diagnosis, was dumped by the man she expected to marry, and she’s been fired from the job she sacrificed everything for after twenty years living in New York City.
After her gram’s celebration of life ceremony, Ava finds journals in her gram’s attic, along with some other important keepsakes her gram’s kept locked away. It reveals a part of her gram’s past that she kept hidden, when Betty defied her friends and family to make a new life for herself in New Orleans while her husband went to war.
Ava decides this is a sign that she should go to New Orleans, too. Can the truth Ava discovers about her gram’s life there help Ava find a way to celebrate life and love again herself?
Please express your interest in Tanya’s new book by liking and/or commenting below! More details will be shared in the coming months as it gets closer to publication date.
21 responses to “Tanya’s New Book”
I would love to read more seems like a fabulous read
This sounds like an amazingly uplifting story at a time when so many are needing hope and a reason to celebrate life. The backdrop of New Orleans will serve as a magical setting for such a story to unfold.
Can’t wait to read this book!
This looks so good! Can’t wait to read the whole thing!
Can’t wait to read it – kudos for getting it completed!
I can’t wait to read this! I’m so intrigued!
Sounds very interesting.
Sounds like something I would definitely enjoy reading! Can’t wait!
I love dual parallel stories with one character in the present and one in the past. Excited to read more and learn some about New Orleans.
I’m excited to get my hands on this book!!
Love your writing. Will love the book too. So proud of you and your talent
I’m excited to meet these women and to explore New Orleans through their eyes! I can’t wait to read your new historical novel!
This sounds SO good! I can’t wait to read it and I know this also something my book club would love to read!!!
Sounds like an interesting read!
A wonderful human story
I cannot wait to hold this in my hands and dog ear the pages. I’m sucked in to Ava’s story and can’t wait to read how it unfolds!!
Sounds like a book I would love to read. Something so special about a relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter- as we know! So proud of you!
Excited to find out what Ava found!
Looking forward to reading this one!
This looks great! As a New Orleanian transplant I already feel connected to the characters!
If the new book is anything like your past works, I know it’ll be wonderful! Congrats, can’t wait to read it!