Celtic Compass, Part II - Tapa blanda

A blended American/Irish family struggles with divided loyalties in a time of crisis. Bohemian Paula from Colorado and Irish Catholic Thomas, newly engaged after forty years of separation and one marriage for each, try to prevent two of their seven adult children from establishing a relationship beyond stepsiblings. Thomas goes so far as to forbid their alliance. Both thirty years old, Paula's daughter Kiri and Thomas' son Michael vow on the sly to chart their own course by the Celtic compass his father gave her. While on a secret assignment for his news agency, TV reporter Michael disappears in the Middle East two years before Arab Spring uprisings focus all eyes on the atrocities perpetrated throughout that region. The daughters are still at each other's throats; the sons remain aloof. Conflicting loyalties force violent reactions within the clan. Who among them will put personal life and hostilities on hold to help find Michael? Thomas and Paula examine where their loyalties lie--with one another, their own child first, the youngest or the weakest. As secrets unfold, members of this transatlantic blended family search their hearts to determine what relevance ancient beliefs and conservative religious traditions have in today's world.

AWARD WINNING AUTHOR SHERRY SCHUBERT, named 2012 Writer of the Year by Idaho Writer's League and a recipient of an Editors' Choice award from Idaho Author Awards, is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Class of 1967. Subsequently, she spent two years hitchhiking abroad, gathering grist for stories and a packful of dreams. "Life" called her back to her home state of Idaho where she raised a family and taught teenagers to solve quadratic equations. Ms. Schubert's yen to write fiction during retirement is precipitated by her daughter's observation, "I have no idea who you were before you were Mom." The author specializes in fiction appealing to Baby Boomers and their children. "Puffin Island" relates how the historical events and social issues of the Sixties shaped the author and still reverberate in her children's lives today. "Celtic Compass, Part I," applies her experience in a blended family of the Sixties--before that term was coined--to present-day holiday conflicts. "Celtic Compass, Part II," explores the challenge of divided loyalties faced by members of a blended family in a time of crisis. "Celtic Circle~for Better, for Worse" examines how antagonistic members of a blended family channel their bitterness and grief. In "Celtic Circle~Forever," hostile members of a blended family seek pathways to reconciliation following tragedy. In addition to her five novels, Ms. Schubert is a contributing author to the short story anthologies, "Hauntings from the Snake River Plain" and "Recipes from the Snake River Plain." All of her works are available as ebooks or paperbacks from Amazon or http://sunwaypress.com. Sherry continues to live and write on the family farm. For the record, she did shake the hand of President Kennedy, and she did play the guitar... badly.