Joy After Noon by Debra Jeter Coleman
JOY AFTER NOON is the story of Joy Hancock, her new gorgeous husband Ray, and his two daughters, Marianne and Jenny. Marianne, a would-be ballerina, is haunted by the image of her deceased, perfection-demanding mother. Her younger sister, Jenny, longing for acceptance and companionship, befriends troubled and trouble-seeking Claudia, with dire consequences. Joy struggles to balance the challenges of a career as a college professor coming up for tenure with those of her new family, while Ray faces an ethical dilemma at work. He must decide whether or not to blow the whistle on his colleagues following an ill-advised merger. At home he alternates between being distracted and irritable, and Joy misreads the signals as indicating his disappointment in her due to her failures—to live up to the model set by his first wife and to cope with the girls and domestic life.
The novel is set in the fictional beach town of Sugar Sands, Alabama, loosely based on Gulf Shores.
Inspiration for Joy After Noon:
Initially, the idea behind my title, Joy After Noon, was that Joy’s life has been lonely (and joy has been elusive) since her parents died when she was sixteen, and she has about given up on finding love when she meets Ray. She comes into his ready-made family and, for a time, this seems like a mistake. However, in the afternoon of her life, she finds love and joy.
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Author Bio:
Debra Coleman Jeter’s first novel, The Ticket, was a finalist for a Selah Award. Her book The Past Ever Present was a finalist in the USA Book News Awards. and Song of Sugar Sands for a Next Generation Indie Book Award. A Professor Emeritus at Vanderbilt University, she is a co-writer of the screenplay for Jess + Moss, a feature film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, screened at nearly forty film festivals around the world, and captured several international awards. She loves cats, water, and boogie boarding.
Advance Praise for Joy After Noon:
Jeter’s characters and scenery are so vivid and real that I felt I was right there sharing all their hope and fears. So looking forward to the next installment!—Jana Little
Debra Jeter does a beautiful job creating realistic characters whose lives intertwine in an honest and purposeful way. I found myself still thinking about their stories once the book ended—Katy Owen
Joy After Noon drew me in and my heart ached along with hers as I followed her struggles. I found myself relating to many characters in the novel–cringing sometimes and laughing at others—Tracy Wilbanks
I was instantly drawn into Joy’s story. A beautiful story full of inescapably good characters – you get so pulled into their world that you miss them just as soon as the book is closed.—Paige Boggs