Beyond Nostalgia

Book excerpt: Born with blue in his collar instead of his veins, best-selling author Dean Cassidy chronicles his soul-scarring rise from New York's darkest alleys to a place high atop the literary world. As difficult and unlikely as such a climb is, there's yet another force working against Dean. He's forever haunted by treasured memories of his long-lost teenage soul-mate. Theresa! Theresa! Theresa! She just won't go away! Despite all Dean's hang-ups and mental baggage, he eventually does marry another woman. And for twenty years his wife, Maddy Frances, remains so giving (and forgiving) she deserves to be canonized a living saint. Even after she finds Dean unconscious at a botched suicide attempt--a time-faded photograph of Theresa clenched in his hands—her love never wavers. But is Maddy's loyalty enough to keep them together? Or will a force far stronger than fate alone change everything? (Be sure to check out Tom Winton's newest novel, The Last American Martyr.)