Read
in pdf format now>Positive Reviews for In Leah's Wake
“Terri Long's accomplished first novel takes the reader on a passionate
roller-coaster ride through contemporary parenthood and marriage. It's sometimes
scary, sometimes sad, and always tender.”
—Susan Straight
National Book
Award finalist and author of A Million Nightingales and High
Wire Moon
“In Leah’s Wake is an irresistible read. The characters
immediately take up residence in your heart because they are people you know. By
turns howlingly funny and achingly sad, the book details the vivid, harrowing
journey of a fragile family that unravels – and finds redemption – thanks
to a teenager’s rebellion. Along the way, there are unflinching truths
about adolescence and contemporary society, told in prose that leaps off
the page like poetry. By the book’s end, we are stunned by the gritty
realization that, no matter how we try, it is impossible for any parent to
hold a child safe and close forever. We can only hope that luck is
on our side, and love our kids as if there is no tomorrow.”
—Holly Robinson
Contributing writer, Family
Circle, Parents, and Ladies’ Home Journal magazines and author
of Memoir
of a Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter (Crown 2007)
How the Novel Came to Be
In 2006, my first novel, In Leah’s Wake, was scheduled for publication by a small independent press. In the final stage of production, unexpected problems arose and, in an amicable separation, the publisher and I parted ways. I was disappointed, of course, and decided to submit to other publishers.
Like many writers, I couldn’t look at the book without seeing its flaws, and so began an arduous revision that never really took off. In the process, I discovered that a writing a novel is a lot like baking a cake. Once you’ve taken a cake from the oven, the baking is done. Putting it back in will only ruin the work. Here, for anyone who’s interested, is the imperfect, unrevised version of In Leah’s Wake.