What if the only person who could help was the one whose heart you'd broken?
Therese Fowler was born in Illinois in 1967. Youngest of three
children, and the only girl, she grew up insisting that being a
girl was for sissies. She spent her free time roaming the forests
and cornfields and neighbourhoods near her home, reading whatever
books she could get her hands on. She married her high school
sweetheart in 1985 and her then-husband enlisted in the US Air
Force, initiating a four-year period of adventure and misadventure.
They went to northern Texas, then on to the Philippines for a
three-year tour of duty when Therese was just nineteen. Therese got
pregnant with her first child in late '89 and gave birth in 1990.
She had a second child in 1993. As a poor-but-devoted at-home mom,
she spent much of 1990-1997 changing diapers, reading
to her boys, wiping messy hands, and jotting ideas for stories in
notebooks. Her real-life saga was chronicled in journals-a useful
experience to draw on later, for SOUVENIR. Therese split from her
husband in 1997 and enrolled at North Carolina State University as
a full-time student, and majored in Sociology and Anthropology.
While a student, she met and married (in 1999) a terrific man who
was a neighbour at her apartment complex, "inheriting" two more
sons in the process. She graduated from NCSU in Dec 2000, having
earned summa cum laude honours and her department's Highest
Scholastic Achievement Award. Therese's first year in grad school
was a tumultuous one: in late '03 her father-in-law took ill and
died in December. At the same time, her mother was diagnosed with
bladder cancer. In late January, following an unsuccessful surgery,
her mother came to stay with Therese in order to try new treatments
at Duke University Hospital. Though no cure was expected, the
treatments were having good effect and the prognosis was that her
mother might gain a year or two of comfortable living. However, she
died quite suddenly (but mercifully in her sleep), in March
'04-likely from sudden heart attack or pulmonary embolism. Therese
was home alone when she discovered her mother, a fact for which
she's grateful. In late 2004, when Therese had been in grad school
for a little over a year, the school won approval for a new
creative writing MFA program. She applied and was admitted into the
first class of approximately 12 fiction writers. To earn the MFA, a
student must produce either a substantial short-story collection or
a novel. In December '05, as she was about to receive her degree,
she began the agent-query process. Initial queries yielded much
interest, with four agents requesting she send the manuscript. The
"winning" agent was Wendy Sherman, who contacted Therese on
Christmas Eve day to say she hoped she could be the One. After some
near misses and a lot of high praise from interested editors,
Therese (who loves a good love story) set out to write Souvenir.
‘An incredible debut…don’t miss it.’ Heat ‘Tender, touching, and
completely compelling. I cared so much about these characters,
couldn't put the novel down, read through the night. Therese Fowler
writes with such wisdom about young love, intense and impossible
choices, and the way one decision can affect an entire life.’
Luanne Rice ‘An emotional rollar coaster of a novel’.
Closer Magazine
'An incredible debut...don't miss it.' Heat
'Tender, touching, and completely compelling. I cared so much
about these characters, couldn't put the novel down, read through
the night. Therese Fowler writes with such wisdom about young love,
intense and impossible choices, and the way one decision can affect
an entire life.'
Luanne Rice
'An emotional rollar coaster of a novel'.
Closer Magazine
The melodrama is thick and heavy in Fowler's debut. Meg Powell turned her back on the love of her life, Carson McKay, to marry Brian Hamilton, the scion of a banking family who saved her parents' farm from foreclosure in exchange for her hand. Now, 16 years later, Meg and Brian are so busy with their careers that they overlook their 16-year-old daughter, Savannah, who has typical adolescent concerns about being pretty and popular. Carson, meanwhile, has become a rock star and is now on the verge of marrying a much younger surfing champion, but he's never gotten over Meg. Trouble comes as Meg is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and Savannah meets an unsavory 23-year-old man online who woos her with the kind of positive reinforcement she wants to hear. Unfortunately, Fowler does little to create narrative tension or well-rounded characters: Meg and Carson reunite before Meg's health declines, Brian is a predicable schmuck, and Savannah gets a rough comeuppance at the hands of her bad news beau and his pals. The bungled handling of saccharine material limits this would-be tearjerker. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
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