Please welcome my fellow Pelican Book Group author Suzy Parish to The West Corner!

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Socially Responsible Fiction

In 2011 my husband spent a year in Afghanistan, training locals to become police officers. He was stationed at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar. His emails and Skype sessions with me became the eyes and ears necessary for Flowers from Afghanistan to come into existence.

Previous to that, he served in the United States Army, and then retired after 26 years of service in our local police department.

Flowers from Afghanistan is a work of fiction, but many scenes in the novel are true-to-life. It will be released by Pelican Book Group, August 10th.

Recently I was in contact with a scriptwriter, and when she read the novel, she suggested that I line up resources for spouses of military and police and their significant others who may be experiencing symptoms of PTSD.

That communication led me to create a “Resources” page on my website. If anyone reads Flowers from Afghanistan and recognizes symptoms of PTSD in themselves or others, there is help available. Symptoms include Anxiety, sleeplessness, rage, flashbacks, nightmares, depression, guilt/shame, avoidance, isolation, hopelessness and emotional numbness. Serve and Protect is a unique and cutting edge 501(c)(3)non-profit corporation based in Brentwood TN, reaching Internationally. They facilitate trauma services for public safety professionals, locating the right resource to address the real issues they face. I feel it is essential as writers to give back to our community. One way for us to do that is to point our readers in the direction of help that is available for situations our characters encounter. I hope that Flowers from Afghanistan informs, challenges and makes readers think but also gives them a healing ending.

About the Author

Suzy Parish is an author at Pelican Book Group. Suzy wrote as a Community Columnist for the Huntsville Times. She is currently a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Her novel, Flowers from Afghanistan was a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest for 2013. Suzy discovered her love of books as a child in Richmond, Virginia when she took refuge from the summer heat in the local Bookmobile. She believes in the power of literacy to improve the lives of individuals and stewards a Little Free Library in a local park.

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Book Description

Hope blooms in unexpected places

Weighed down by guilt following the death of his two-year-old son, Mac McCann accepts a year-long position training police officers in Afghanistan. Leaving his wife Sophie to grieve alone, he hopes the life-or-death distractions of his self-imposed exile will build a wall between him and his pain.

As camaraderie builds between Mac and the men on base—including a local barber and his precocious little boy—Mac’s heart becomes invested in stories beyond his own tragedy and he learns he is not the only one running from loss. But when the hour of attack arrives, will he be able to see past his guilt to believe there’s still something—and someone—worth living for?

With touching details based on true events, Flowers from Afghanistan is a redemptive journey of healing, a chronicle of hope in crisis, and a testament to the faithfulness of God through it all.

Flowers from Afghanistan is available from Amazon.