White Picket Fences (37 page)
Read White Picket Fences Online
Authors: Susan Meissner
What is the motivation for Amanda’s almost-affair with Gary? Readers aren’t given reason to believe that Amanda is naturally prone toward such choices.
Amanda is actually an amalgam of so many individuals I know who derive strength and hope from a deep emotional connection
to the person who loves them most. When we’re worried, stressed, and afraid, most of us rely on that emotional bond with our significant other to affirm, uphold, and defend us from what wars against us. Amanda didn’t have that emotional connection with Neil when the past reared its ugly head—and she didn’t realize she didn’t have it because up to this point she thought they had the perfect life. Amanda saw the mess and wanted desperately to clean it up. Neil saw it and wanted desperately to look the other way. They were both desperate. But apart.
It’s interesting that Tally doesn’t seem to grieve the absence of a mother. Why?
Tally is first and foremost Bart’s daughter. And Bart is not one to brood over something he has no control over and can’t change. The scene where we glimpse Tally’s perceptions of the women Bart has dated gives us some insights into how she’s processed the fact that she doesn’t have a mother. And because it’s natural for us to want her to want a mother, I included in the last scene Tally’s desire to come back to San Diego after she and Bart return from Warsaw. This lets us picture Tally being mothered by Amanda in the near future.
What do you hope readers come away with after reading
White Picket Fences?
The pivotal moment in the story for me is when Josef says to Chase: “[This] is what all survivors must decide. We have to decide how much we will choose to remember and how much courage we are willing to expend to do so.” It takes courage to acknowledge and remember what drove you to your knees or
nearly killed you. If you choose to forget—that’s assuming you actually can—then it seems to me you suffered for nothing. You are different, but you don’t spend any time contemplating—or celebrating—how. I’d be happy if there was a takeaway for someone out there who needs to consider that.
A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR
From early school-day projects to becoming editor of a local newspaper in Minnesota, Susan Meissner’s love for writing has been apparent her entire life. She is the author often novels and lives with her family in San Diego. Find out more about her at
www.susanmeissner.com
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W
HITE
P
ICKET
F
ENCES
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATER
B
ROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Susan Meissner
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meissner, Susan, 1961–
White picket fences : a novel / Susan Meissner. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-45833-9
1. Family secrets—Fiction. 2. Redemption—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.E435W45 2009
813′.6—dc22
2009013406
v3.0
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