Into the Storm

To all appearances, 46-year-old Dr. Enya Pickering is in control of her life as she maintains a successful medical practice with her husband in Enniskerry, Ireland.

But Enya knows differently. Memories of her 47-year-old mother, who had a heart attack while swimming in the ocean and drowned when Enya was 12, continually trouble her thoughts. Enya will turn 47 in a year and wonders what will happen to her then.

On a dangerously stormy December night in a remote area, Enya’s life is irrevocably changed when she is flagged down by a taxi driver who tells her there is a body on the road. Grabbing her medical bag, Enya rushes to the teenage boy and administers CPR, saving his life. When the Gardaí—the Irish police—question Enya and the taxi driver, they each give their statement of fact and leave the scene.

When Enya returns to her house, she comes up against the not-so-public fractures in her relationship with her husband, Xander, and her 16-year-old son, Finn. Believing that Xander is trying to keep her away from Finn, Enya is desperate to connect to her son, but repeatedly fails. Her agony is intensified when she thinks of the injured teen as Finn, and Finn as the injured teen, a mental jumble that depletes her energy and skews her perspective.

When Enya is offered a temporary assignment as a doctor in the rural community of Abbeydooley, she accepts it, wanting to get away from the stress that’s consuming her. She is given lodging in the retired doctor’s house and is distraught to see that almost flush to the house, a messy tree with rags tied to its branches blocks her light and eerily taps against her window. Through the years, people had visited the tree, tying rags to its branches to remember loved ones, to offer prayers, and to seek healing and forgiveness.

As Enya adjusts to life in the town with an aging population, she makes mistakes that threaten her relationship with the occupants. But slowly she begins to understand her patients and to find a peaceful rhythm, establishing an unusual friendship, working alongside the local priest, and making house calls along the confusing rural byways.

However, soon people whom she thought she had left behind in Enniskerry begin to show up in Abbeydooley. Enya is shaken to the core, and she must face the fact that she can’t run away from her former life.

This suspenseful, masterfully plotted novel for adults keeps readers guessing till near its conclusion about what happened on that stormy December night and who was responsible. Written in the context of different worldviews—Western rationalism, Celtic pagan beliefs, and Christianity—Into the Storm is a story about healing, hope, and forgiveness. Includes some profanity. (Harper Collins)