Lorna & Tristan Series: Book 3
Publication Date: March 21, 2023
Stephen feels he is marked from day one to lose the ones he loves. His mother dies giving birth to him, and his alcoholic father makes sure Stephen never forgets it. To block out his father’s hate, fists, and belt, young Stephen loses himself in his imagination. Stories become his closest companions and barricades against a family that never wanted him. Once he can look his father in the eye, Stephen swears he will never be the monster his old man is. He vows he will become a published author, if for no other reason than to prove his father wrong.
While his dreams of being a bestselling novelist and falling in love come true, Stephen has much to prove to himself before he can write his own happy ending. Set against the backdrop of Prohibition-era Cleveland, Stephen fights the same alcoholic demons that plagued his father as he tries to begin a life free from his family. He meets equally headstrong Julie and is smitten, but their marriage is as fractured as his career is solid. He can find ten ways to write about being in love, but he has a hard time translating love on the page to love in real life. Julie slips between his fingers like sand, and Stephen sees his father staring back when he looks in the mirror.
Try as he might to rewrite his life, even going so far as to change his name, he has to wonder if he is the author or the killer of love.
Stephen Richardson wants nothing more than to be a writer. Despite a challenging childhood full of poverty and abuse, he’s determined to make his dream a reality.
Against a backdrop of Prohibition-era Cleveland, author Cynthia Hilston delivers the third installment in the Lorna & Tristan series with The Rock at the Bottom. This title can easily be read as a standalone without having to read earlier titles.
The crux of the storyline focuses on Stephen’s grasp of love. Having never received it as a child, Stephen finds writing about love is much easier than actually demonstrating it. His greatest fear is that he will end up like his broken father.
After a devastating loss, Stephen seeks a new beginning and changes his name to Tristan. Even with this change, he’s haunted by the memories of his beloved wife. The author skillfully traces Tristan’s path from absolute misery and despair to hope as a new life emerges.
The Rock at the Bottom delivers a story about a boy who grew up in a dreadful environment, fearful of turning into his father. Hope and faith eventually become a lifeline for Tristan, but only after he makes the right choices.
Cynthia Hilston is a stay-at-home mom of three young kids, happily married, and lives in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Writing has always been like another child to her. After twenty years of waltzing in the world of fan fiction, she stepped away to do her debut dance with original works of fiction, although she still dabbles in fan fiction.
In her spare time – what spare time? – she devours books, shamelessly watches Hallmark movies and When Calls the Heart, pets her orange and black kitties, looks at the stars, drinks wine or coffee with good friends, and dreams of what other stories she wishes to tell.
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