WIDOW'S WALK RELEASE

JUST RELEASED BY ATTMPRESS, WIDOW'S WALK BY KENNETH WEENE!

About Widow's Walk

Widow’s Walk is a story of faith and its effects on already flawed characters. Set in Boston in the 1980s, it is the story of Mary Flanagan and her children, Sean and Kathleen. Mary’s husband, Sean, Sr., died at the wheel of his M.T.A. bus. Her son, Sean, Jr. is a quadriplegic, injured on his way to a brothel in Vietnam; Kathleen, divorced and unable to have children, works and lives at a hospice that primarily serves AIDS patients; there she lives a mechanistically faithful life, but one devoid of belief. This unhappy family structure is erected on the bedrock stoicism of Mary’s Irish Catholicism. It is that faith which is tested, changed, and strangely reaffirmed over the course of the tale.



Two events upend Mary’s world. The first is her friend, Lois’s, move to Florida . The second is Sean’s decision to seek rehabilitation in a center in Minnesota – a decision initiated by Jem, a home health aide whose own life reflects a faith of care and service.



Mary finds herself looking for new meaning and direction in her life. In the process she meets two unexpected people, Arnie Berger, a college professor, an agnostic or perhaps deistic Jew, and love interest, and Pat Michaels, a minister, whose view of a joyous faith is much at odds with Mary’s rigid theology. She also moves into a housing share and becomes friends with Amelia Callaghan, the misanthropic house owner.



Sean’s life, too, is dramatically changed because he falls in love with and marries one of the aides at the rehab center. He returns to Boston married, employed and expecting their first child.



Given the remarkable changes in her mother’s and brother’s lives and influenced by Max, one of her dying patients and a man whose story and faith are powerful and unique, Kathleen also seeks love. She meets Danny, a young man tied to his overprotective mother and unable to deal with his own feelings of inadequacy.



Sadly, Kathleen and Danny’s relationship ends in disaster, rape, and abuse. Danny flees. In her own way, Kathleen does too; she becomes catatonic and dependant.



Mary unable to come to terms with her sense of guilt and responsibility towards her daughter – is powerless to keep those feelings from coming between her and Arnie.

In the end, Mary can not live with her unhappiness and dies of “the pain of her soul,” a diagnosis provided by the caregiver, Jem, who had originally encouraged Sean to make his momentous move. Mary’s death creates a strange psychological space in which Kathleen takes on her mother’s place in the world.



About the Author:

Kenneth married his wife Roz in 1968 and went to U. of Iowa for a year, from which Roz graduated. He transferred to the Institute of Advance Psychological Studies at Adelphi University , Long Island , NY . He completed a PhD in psychology and worked as a psychologist from 1970 until 2001. During part of that time he worked for The Counseling Service of The Long Island Council of Churches. Despite his great interest in religion, he did not seek ordination until 2002. Why? Because he had been raised Jewish and only started really thinking about his own faith as an adult. He saw no advantage in upsetting his parents by seeking ministerial ordination.



He started writing, primarily poetry, in the 1980s. Regarding Widow's Walk, Weene says, "Stepping away from full-time work was the best decision I ever made. Writing this story has given me tremendous personal satisfaction, and it has shown me an avenue for expression I will always treasure."

KEN WILL SOON BE ON A BLOG TOUR.


Themes, Topics and Perspective Audience for Widow's Walk

There are a number of the themes and topics included in Widow's Walk. These include:

* Role of faith in life
* Possibility of love
* Meaning of life and of love



If you would be interested in interviewing Kenneth during his tour, or highlight him or his book in some other way including a review, feel free to contact – virtualblogtours@yahoo.com.