Plain Roots

Literature & Fiction

synopsis

Synopsis

Taryn Clark thought she’d outgrown the need to find her birth mother. She thought that a successful career and a comfortable life in the city were enough to be happy. Did she really need to know about the woman who had given her away? Adopted at birth, her first few years were happy. But divorce, and then death, ripped their tiny family apart, and at the tender age of six, she entered the foster care system. Finding her roots seemed an impossible dream. But dreams are resilient. An unexpected discovery awakens old yearnings of belonging to a family, of being part of something bigger than herself. Finding the brief, ambiguous note from her birth mother is enough to unfurl the ribbons of hope still binding her heart. Her quest takes her to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and the heart of the Plain community. Aided by her unique eye color, a healthy dose of luck, and the private investigator she hires, Taryn finds her birth family easily enough, but finding the truth is another matter. In all her musings, she never imagined a scenario where her mother might be Amish. She never imagined that the fabric of her life might be a patchwork of faith and fear, stitched together with a dark family secret. Now she’s caught in the quicksand of a shocking discovery and the consequences of choices made, almost forty years ago. She’ll risk everything to uncover the truth and to claim the family—and the roots—she so desperately craves.

bio

Author Biography

Best-selling indie author Becki Willis loves crafting stories with believable characters in believable situations. Many of her stories stem from her own travels and from personal experiences. (No worries; she's never actually murdered anyone).

When she’s not plotting danger and adventure for her imaginary friends, Becki enjoys reading, antiquing (aka junking), unraveling a good mystery (real or imagined), dark chocolate, and a good cup of coffee. A professed history geek, Becki often weaves pieces of the past into her novels. Family is a central theme in her stories and in her life. She and her husband enjoy traveling, but believe coming home to their Texas ranch is the best part of any trip.

Becki is on the Board of Directors for Authors School of Business and has won numerous awards, but the real compliments come from her readers. Drop in for an e-visit anytime at beckiwillis.ccp@gmail.com, or www.beckiwillis.com.

website

Author Insight

I Just Turn the Page

My love for reading started at an early age. Like Taryn, I remember my mother reading Dr. Seuss books to me and my sister. We eventually graduated to the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I could just imagine myself in Laura's tales, living the life of a pioneer girl. When I started reading for myself, I often turned to a Trixie Beldon Mystery. In the 6th grade, I read Gone with The Wind (all 1000 pages) in less than a week, so yes, my addiction to books started early! These days, there's always a read-in-progress on my Kindle. (Confession: I feel a little panicky when I don't have another book in queue to read.) Reading has always enriched my life and helped me keep calm and focused, and it's taken me on grand adventures and into the lives of amazing (if only imaginary) people. All I have to do is turn the page....

Book Excerpt

Plain Roots

A long-ago memory splashed mist into her eyes. Her mother used to read to her, something about big fish and little fish, red fish and yellow fish. These were of all sizes and all species, a colorful collection with little in common, other than the water they shared. Taryn felt like one of them, all alone in a huge and overcrowded fishbowl. She felt the weight of the water around her, swirling in from all directions, tugging and pulling. It took everything she had to keep afloat, to keep the stronger current from sucking her under.

After a lifetime of disappointment, she couldn’t believe how naive she had been, thinking she could find her past so easily. Had the frayed ribbons of her dreams taught her nothing?

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Becki Willis

Plain Roots

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

I Just Turn the Page

Book Excerpt

Plain Roots

Comment on this Bubble