Tess and Eva Gilmore are the mother-daughter main characters of my new women’s novel—Feathers in the Sand—which is being published in June of 2022. Let’s focus today on Tess.
Tess is a 40-year-old single mom with 2 children- Micah is almost 18, Eva is 11.
Unlike in this picture (which is the closest I could find to how I’m imagining her as I write), Tess doesn’t smile a lot. She is uber-focused on providing for her family through her work as the assistant office manager of a Connecticut dental practice. We won’t talk about Cameron, who left them right after Eva’s first birthday. And we won’t talk (much) about her pain-in-the-butt boss either!
Tess loves her children, but for the last 4 years, she’s been so focused on her full-time job, plus taking night courses for her MBA, that she has left most of Eva’s care to Micah, who loves his little sister. I was born with two big brothers, so I know about good big-brother relationships!
While Tess desperately wants a Gilmore-Girls type of relationship with Eva, Eva has gotten use to not having her mother around, and has come to depend on her big brother rather than her mother.
Tess is way more serious, practical, and quiet than Lorelai Gilmore. She doesn’t smile very often and she hasn’t felt joy in a very long time. Can Tess and Eva find their way back to each other throughout the changes and challenges that life throws their way? Stay tuned!