Gavin Goode by David B. Seaburn Book Tour and Giveaway :)
Gavin
Goode
by
David B. Seaburn
Genre:
Literary Fiction
“I don’t know
how, and I don’t know why, but I think I died today.”
So begins the
complex and mysterious journey of Gavin Goode and his family. What
happened to Gavin and why? What secrets will emerge along the way?
Frankie, his wife and a dress store owner, feels guilty, but why? His
son, Ryan, who owns an ice cream parlor, and daughter-in-law, Jenna,
who is a bank manager, are expecting their first baby. How will this
trauma affect them? And what of Rosemary, Frankie’s best friend? Or
Ben Hillman and eleven year old, Christopher? How are they implicated
in the events that unfold around Gavin’s misfortune?
This is a story of
despair and hope, dreams and reality, uncertainty and faith,humor,
secrecy, forgiveness and beginnings. As in his previous novels, David
B. Seaburn demonstrates his in-depth understanding of the human
experience and his storytelling mastery.
Gavin’s
son, Ryan, visits him in the hospital ICU for the first time. Ryan gets up and
walks to the window. He sits briefly on the ledge, then paces the
room, trying to think of something he can do. Did his yelling send
the wrong kind of vibe to his father? Did he make things worse? Maybe
if he talks in softer tones, or prays, or plays some Billy Joel, Dad
loves Billy Joel, or maybe if he brings in some candles like the ones
at Yankee Candle at the mall, or burns some incense, maybe there is a
way to break through to his father, then he’d have a chance of
coming back. “What
do you need, Dad?” He goes to the hall and watches other loved ones
coming and going, each trying to figure out what to do, trying to
figure out how to save the day. He turns around and looks again at
his father, who, swaddled in linen and gauze, could be anyone. He
bends over, gaping at his face. “Dad…Dad…I
don’t know what to do. I’m scared.” Ryan falls back into a
recliner opposite his father’s bed. “I know, I know, take a
breath, that’s what you’d say. ‘Take a breath, Ryan’ and then
you’d laugh like you were trying to tell me ‘I know what this is
like and, believe me, it will all work out, you’ll see.’ And I’d
believe you.” Every day when Ryan awakens, he utters a simple
prayer, “Dad says things will be okay. Amen.” He’ll never admit
it, not even to Jenna, but sometimes that is the one thing that will
get him up. Sometimes he is afraid to swing his legs out from under
the covers and put his feet on the floor. What might happen? What
might go wrong? And then he thinks of his father and he gets up,
sometimes reluctantly, but he does it. But
that well-worn prayer isn’t working now. His father lies flat on a
hospital bed, unconscious and unaware, mummified in bedsheets, tubes
in his nose and mouth, residue of a bullet in his head. He doesn’t
even know Ryan is there. How are things ever going to be okay again? Ryan
gets up from the chair and stands beside his father. He inhales and
lets the air out in a rush, settling his chest and relaxing his
shoulders. He reaches for his father’s arm. “I
wish we could have talked this morning. I wish I could’ve heard…”
Ryan takes his cell phone from his pocket and punches in a number.
Then he puts the phone on speaker. After four rings: “Hi, Gavin
here. Please leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon
possible. Have a great day!” “Ok,”
says Ryan.
In
2010 I retired after having been the director of a public school
based free family counseling center.
Prior
to that I was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Family
Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center for almost
twenty years. During my tenure there I taught in a Family Medicine
Residency Program, practiced Medical Family Therapy and was the
Director of a Family Therapy Training Program.
In
addition to this I am a retired Presbyterian minister, having
graduated from seminary (Boston University) in 1975. I served a
church full-time from 1975-1981 before entering the mental health
field permanently. I am married; we have two adult daughters and two
wonderful granddaughters.
My
educational background includes two master's degrees and a PhD. Most
of my career was as an assistant professor of psychiatry and family
medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. There I wrote
two professional books and over 65 papers and book chapters.
In
addition to long fiction, I write personal essays, many of which have
been published in the Psychotherapy Networker magazine.
I
also write a blog, "Going Out Not Knowing," for Psychology
Today magazine
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/going-out-not-knowing).
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the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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