While my reading time has been quite limited since the summer, I’ve had the pleasure of dipping into a wonderful story every moment I could with Linda Katmarian’s debut novel Dreaming of Laughing Hawk. With deep and fascinating characters and a storyline that drew me into the novel more and more with each page, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
On a cold spring day in 1964, with the hope of escaping home and studying art at university filling her heart and head, Elizabeth Leigh skips out of high school early. In a matter of moments everything in her unsettled life changes. Her mother’s packed suitcase, broken promises, more lies, dreams shattered – and no one to tell her why.
With nothing keeping her in the place that wasn’t really ever home, Elizabeth accepts a fortuitous invitation from her cousin to spend the summer in sunny California. Life couldn’t possibly be more different at her aunt Caroline’s house, where Lizzy, as her family insists on calling her, settles into a beautiful home and comfortable lifestyle where she meets new people, led along by her gorgeous and bubbly cousin Melina.
While Melina is more concerned about summer fun, Elizabeth works to save money for university. Through family connections she starts a job as secretary for Collin Greenslade, a handsome and ambitious young man eager to get out from the overbearing grasp of his father’s business. The most unlikely of matches, Elizabeth and Collin both have a hole deep inside–a need to be loved–that draws them together. Collin offers Elizabeth everything she could dream of, love, comfort, beautiful things, and she falls for what is too tempting to resist – security.
But, there’s just one problem. Mark Laughing Hawk. A Native American from South Dakota and studying medicine at UCLA, Hawk is the roommate of Melina’s boyfriend Jake. When Jake gets in trouble with his civil rights activism in Mississippi, he calls in the help of Hawk to come and rescue him and tow his ruined car back home. Never one to miss out on a little fun, Melina concocts a story that allows her and Elizabeth to go with Hawk to Mississippi. This is no average road trip. It’s an adventure that sets in motion unstoppable events in the life of Elizabeth and Hawk.
There are choices to be made by the characters in the story, and they are certainly ones that resonated with me. Do you risk everything to follow where your heart leads you or do you hold on with all your might to the one thing you always thought you wanted? There’s a point in the novel where Mark Laughing Hawk says, “Your destiny is determined by the choices you make and the angels–or demons–you invite to accompany you.” As Collin, Elizabeth and Hawk make their decisions–some followed by angels and others the darkest demons–the story unfolds into one of deep, beautiful and fierce love.
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Find out more about Linda Katmarian and Dreaming of Laughing Hawk by clicking here.
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