Books Everywhere, Screens Replaced

Author on the rocks at the first Front Paige Book Fair at the Boston Seaport

From my perspective as a visitor to Boston for the fall from the US Virgin Islands, I am mesmerized with the myriad indie bookshops throughout the city. So many intriguing and colorful covers and titles! From the South End to the North End, Beacon Hill to Back Bay and beyond, the variety of genres is enchanting. Not that there isn't a fantastic bookstore in St. Croix. There is one; Undercover Books in Christiansted. Here in Boston there are also many book events all through the fall season; some that I have participated in.

Last weekend Front Paige Media organized a fantastic book fair at the Seaport. There were over 40 indie authors and the crowds, hundreds, were flocking to their attractive tent displays, especially the children's books. Chalk it up to the big push to take children off the screens, as well as adults! It is a sign of hope for indie authors. I found several great titles for my grandchildren back home.

Heidi McLaughlin was the featured author on Harbor Way on the grass surrounded by boulders; the rocks at Boston Seaport. She related her writing journey and her most successful work Forever My Girl that was adapted into a major motion picture with LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions.

Emma Ziegler interviewed Heidi for her podcast "Ghosted" that explores the concept of loss, drawing a parallel between getting "ghosted" in relationships and the sudden silence left by the death of a loved one.

The theme of Heidi's book Forever my Girl written in 2012, features a lover who returns to the small town after many years of "ghosting" his former girlfriend. Heidi's inspiration was a death in her family that inspired her successful novel turned motion picture. She described her experiences with mediums who brought her in contact with her departed loved ones and how it influenced her writing.

My personal experience with ghosts has been in dreams that compelled me to reach back into family history to find the Ghosts in my DNA. I will be in Booth # 5 at the Boston Book Festival on October 17th with IPNE. Come by for a signed copy or to be inspired to start your genealogy journey.

S.A. Beach