By Chance

There is no map or compass that can lead us to love. So much of the wonder and mystery of it happens by chance.

By Chance is the story of a divorced, middle-aged woman, who regrets that true and lasting love has eluded her. But as she reconsiders her past choices and missed opportunities, she is surprised by a discovery that changes the way she looks at her life.

For a long time now, I’ve had the same regret. (Funny how authors relate so well to their protagonists! 😉 ) My unfulfilled wish in this lifetime is that I didn’t fall in love in my youth with a man I’d grow to love even more as we aged together.

My 12-year marriage ended in divorce when I was in my mid-40s, and after that, I was single for 20 years. But one day, not long ago, that changed.

When I started writing By Chance, I was still wondering if I’d ever find true love again. Much of this story is fiction, but some of it is as true as I remember it. And those memories are still so clear, after all these years. If you recognize yourself in this story (I’ve changed names and personal details), please know that you’re part of an important realization that comes to the lovelorn protagonist at the end of the book. She and I are grateful to you.

The couple pictured on the book’s cover are my parents on their wedding day: My dad’s first act of gallantry as a married man was catching my mom as she stumbled on the stairs. The name of the photographer has vanished with time. But I’m thankful to him or her for capturing this moment of their first steps together as a married couple. Love can be fraught with missteps, but my parents’ journey together lasted 63 years and inspired much of this book.

I’ve dedicated this novel to “those longing for love, with the hope that, just by chance, the wonder and mystery of it will find you — and delight you — when you least expect it.”

For centuries, poets and lyricists have waxed rhapsodic about LOVE. It changes everything, makes the world go round. It’s like a red, red rose, thorns and all.

As I enjoy new-found love, this Shakespeare sonnet speaks to my heart:

Of all my loves this is the first and last
That in the autumn of my years has grown,
A secret fern, a violet in the grass,
A final leaf where all the rest are gone.
Would that I could give all and more, my life,
My world, my thoughts, my arms, my breath, my future,
My love eternal, endless, infinite, yet brief,
As all loves are and hopes, though they endure.
You are my sun and stars, my night, my day,
My seasons, summer, winter, my sweet spring,
My autumn song, the church in which I pray,
My land and ocean, all that the earth can bring
Of glory and of sustenance, all that might be divine,
My alpha and my omega, and all that was ever mine.

 

I hope you enjoy the book.

~ Rebecca