Q&A - Leotas Garden

The mother/daughter relationships in this story are very realistic. What did you base this on?

I've just seen many people who never seem to work out the misunderstandings in their relationships. They never sit down and talk things through in a calm manner so that each person can truly hear both sides. In the story, Leota and Nora never really could communicate. Annie was the catalyst that helped them understand each other. [insert]

In this book, I wanted to write about a family who was dysfunctional. I wanted to explore questions that many people grapple with. One of them was employed mothers versus those who stay home. Leota had been employed, and her daughter, Nora, bitterly remembers all the times her mother had not been there for her. Nora, now a mother herself, was always "there" for her children … always there to control and manage every aspect of their lives. Which is the better mother? The answers are not as simple as some might like to think. The Proverbs 31 woman worked and was a blessing to her family. It all comes down to living our lives in obedience to Christ, in the home and outside it.

Lack of communication can destroy a family. Why did Leota keep her secrets even after her husband was gone?

She kept silent out of deep hurt and pride. Her mother-in-law had poisoned Nora against her, but Leota couldn't bring herself to destroy her daughter's love for her grandmother. Leota made peace with her mother-in-law and actually took care of her in her old age. Perhaps she hoped the woman would tell the truth to Nora. Unfortunately, she didn't. Like many people, Leota hoped "time would heal all wounds", but time didn't heal anything because the truth had never been revealed. Nora still judged Leota by the bitter gossip she heard as a child, and her stubbornness cheated her out of a relationship with a mother who loved her deeply and sacrificed greatly for her.

One of the things I wanted to show in this book was that sometimes you don't get another chance to mend relationships. We have to jump at any opportunity to say "I love you" and hear each other's story. Otherwise, the story may never told, the relationship never mended.

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