Forward/Rewind

In the novel Forward/Rewind - A Story of Remembrance and Renewal, Trish Manfield, an attractive middle-aged woman, finds herself alone after her husband dies suddenly. Her children have grown and moved away, except for Jessie, her youngest child. Trish struggles to proceed with her life and takes the first step by moving to a new house in a new town. After a few months in the new house, Jessie moves away to attend school and Trish finds herself truly alone. Trish's memories are all she has to keep her company during the long, sleepless nights in a house she occupies by herself. Her reluctance to let go of the past and her feeling of being totally alone intensifies her insomnia. She longs for her former hectic life as a mother and wife, and she finds herself reminiscing throughout the night. Close to a year after her daughter moves out, Trish still hasn't been able to pull herself up. She finds eerie comfort in the mundane late-night TV reruns that she watches but doesn't see, as she goes back in time, remembering happier days. Trish is mystified and frightened that although she has started over again many times in the past, this time life has given her more than she can overcome. Forward/Rewind is the story of Trish's journey, her strengthening reunions, and her ultimate awakening to a new beginning and sense of worth again. P. Ellen Manley grew up in Chicago, but now resides in Columbia, South Carolina. She is working on the sequel.