ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GINA HOLMES began her career penning articles and short stories in 1998. In 2005 she founded the influential literary blog, Novel Journey. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in Southern Virginia. Her debut novel, Crossing Oceans released April/May 2010 with Tyndale House Publishers. To learn more about her, visit: www.ginaholmes.com or noveljourney.blogspot.com
CROSSING OCEANSby Gina Holmes
Published by Tyndale House
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sometimes love demands the impossible
Nothing deepens a stream like a good rain . . . or makes it harder to cross. Jenny Lucas swore she’d never go home again. But life has a way of upending even the best-laid plans. Now, years after she left, she and her five-year-old daughter must return to her sleepy North Carolina town to face the ghosts she left behind. They welcome her in the form of her oxygen tank-toting grandmother, her stoic and distant father, and David, Isabella’s dad . . . who doesn’t yet know he has a daughter. As Jenny navigates the rough and unknown waters of her new reality, the unforgettable story that unfolds is a testament to the power of love to change everything—to heal old hurts, to bring new beginnings . . . even to overcome the impossible.
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ENDORSEMENTS
"Beautiful and heartfelt."
Charles Martin, NYT bestselling author of Where the River Ends
"Poignant and unforgettable, CROSSING OCEANS will break your heart — and then put the pieces back together again. This is an uplifting and inspiring tale that reminds us to live every day as if it’s our last."
Tess Gerritsen, NYT Best-selling author
"Moving, heart-rending and poignant, a stunning debut. Holmes returns us to what matters in a too-short life—what it really is to come home."
Tosca Lee, author of Havah & Demon: A Memoir
"Gina Holmes explores the beauty, tenderness and tenacity of mother-love in Crossing Oceans with marvelous skill and insight. An outstanding debut from a gifted storyteller. Bravo!"
Susan Meissner, author of The Shape of Mercy
Readers, buy your copy of Crossing Oceans today!
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
1. What gave you the inspiration for this story?
I was writing suspense novels at the time I started, but no longer wanted to read suspense. I had discovered classics like Jane Eyre and Watership Down, and then had been reading Charles Martin, Lisa Samson, Tosca Lee, Claudia Burney, Francine Rivers, Memoirs of a Geisha, Kite Runner, and I fell in love with words all over again. I wanted to try something different.
The idea about a dying woman who never told her boyfriend she was pregnant just popped in my head. I was going through a divorce at the time. It was something I had prayed so long and hard for a miracle for, and that miracle never came. Instead my husband asked me for the divorce. I felt like I was dying. I think subconsciously I was working that out through my story.
2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?
Good question that only a writer would think to ask. Ha. My parents divorced when I was a baby and I was very much a mediator type like Isabella. I saw the good in everyone when I was that little, and in everything. So, she is somewhat based on me at that age, and pieces of my own children. She's a lot more sanguine than I am though. I have more melancholy, like Jenny.
Speaking of Jenny, she always tries to do the right thing, but that's not always her first reaction. She's sort of a knee-jerk reaction type at first, just the way I am. But, like me, give her a few minutes to think about it and she's able to make the right choices and see things through other's eyes. Though, I hope I'm a little more empathetic than she is. She's tougher than me that way.
3. If your hero/heroine were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?
Jenny would be ... okay, I have no clue. She's a dying woman, it's hard to assign a flavor to that.
4. Are there any themes in Crossing Oceans that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?The theme that as Christians, we don't need to fear death, is I guess the most obvious. In the Bible, God promises to those who have called on Jesus' name, streets of gold, no more tears, mansions, and His presence. The end of this human life is only a wonderful beginning.
A theme that took on a life of its self was the one of sacrifice. The twist near the end of the story where Jenny is asked to give even more than I'd planned when I started writing the book completely caught me off guard. I sat there with the idea of what she was going to be asked to do and my heart ached for her. It's too much, I told myself and yet I knew I had to write it.
In this life where everyone, including people in our churches, are using the platitude as though it's gospel of "you deserve to be happy," I wanted to show that personal happiness isn't always the right choice. Jesus deserved happiness more than you or I and what did he choose? And thank goodness He did. You and I don't deserve happiness. We're sinners, we deserve Hell. But because of Jesus giving up what He deserved, we ultimately will have happiness, if not in this life, than in Heaven.
5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?
The twist at the end where I ask Jenny to give more than I thought she would have to. I truly asked her to give something that seemed an impossible sacrifice. That killed me to write. It also was so difficult to write the scene at the ocean, where Jenny explains death to her daughter, using the ocean as a metaphor (thus the title of the book.) I cried every single time I read or edited it. I want to cry just thinking about it. As a mother, that's hard.
6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?
Dry as Rain is being written as we speak, well, after we speak. It's the story of a couple who let's assumptions cause an avalanche in their marriage that leads to infidelity and ultimately the choice of whether or not to divorce. It's supposed to release this time next year. I'm only two weeks away from that deadline. I'd appreciate prayers of those who would be willing. I need a small miracle to pull it together and finish it with a bang.
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Thank you, Gina, for being in the spotlight with us.
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