A SURFING LOVE STORY
With an open heart and a willingness to forgive
You can go home again
THE AVENUE
Betrayed one too many times by her husband of twenty-seven years, fifty-year-old Lara (aka Clara) Russell withdraws to what was once her father’s studio, now deserted, sitting on a neglected corner of the sprawling estate of her 90-year-old estranged mother. Hidden behind an overgrown walled garden on a rundown and economically ruined dead-end avenue in Santa Cruz, Lara is forced to decide between security and freedom.
Like so many others during the 2009 depression, Lara learns just how difficult mere survival is, especially so in the middle of a decaying surf-town neighborhood. Characters living in abandoned cars lining the avenue of more boarded-up houses than lived-in and a mysterious stranger steer Lara on a yearlong journey of self-discovery and forgiveness.
The heart of the story rests in the expanse of the Monterey Bay where Lara’s father took her surfing as kid. The counterpoint is the seemingly dead expanse separating her father’s studio from her mother’s house. Her decision to return to her childhood home after so long sets off long repressed memories until the secrets from the past become inescapable. Lara returns to the waves and works to restore the garden shut away for nearly three decades to feed many. Between the watery realm of the bay and the earth that grounds, supports, and gives life, Lara braves the barriers of each to follow the path of discovery. But, when an emotional tsunami hits, can she hold onto the new life she has worked so hard to create?
An intimate portrayal of a woman with a past that unlocks her future
THE AVENUE
Coming Fall 2021
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