Women and Adversity: Left to Chance by Amy Sue Nathan
Teddi Lerner, the protagonist in Amy Sue Nathan’s third novel Left to Chance, has much adversity to conquer: loss, grief, love and acceptance.
- The loss of her best friend, Celia, drives her to leave Chance, Ohio the day of Celia’s funeral without telling anyone why or where she was going. Thus, she lost all her friends, including Celia’s husband, Miles, her daughter, Shay, and Beck, the man Teddi once loved.
- Her grief is overwhelming. She and Celia had been friends from childhood. They shared memories and mementoes that bound them together. She runs away and escapes all the memories.
- Love on many levels is a major factor. Teddi loved Chance and its residents, especially Shay, who asks Teddi to be the photographer when Miles marries Violet. Teddi consents and returns to Chance after a six-year hiatus. She has to face the people she abandoned, including Beck.
- Acceptance completes her journey. She accepts the changes in the people and in Chance besides accepting responsibility for the pain she caused those she left behind.
Nathan masterfully weaves the characters and their pasts together. The reader understands why Teddi left and sympathizes with her. They admire her return and how she makes decisions, including the men in her life.
Nathan reigns supreme when it comes to titles and their metaphors. Her first novel, The Glass Wives, and her second, The Good Neighbor, attest to that, and Left to Chance follows in the tradition. Her blog at www.womensfictionwriters.com highlights other writers as well as topics that interest writers. Since 2015 Writer’s Digest has named it one of the best websites for writers. Nathan was kind enough to participate in my blog by answering questions about the challenges she has faced. You can read it at www.jamathews.com/women-adversity-amy-sue-nathan-author-blogger.
More information about Amy Sue Nathan:
womensfictionwriters.com/editing-services
www.instagram.com/amysuenathan
