Look past the beach...

It is a strange feeling to wish my readers and friends a happy New Year - even as we confront the ongoing challenge of a minuscule virus with an outsize reach. But it is a new year, and surely 2021 will be better than 2020. Our scientists around the world, our doctors and nurses, our teachers, and so many others continue to toil long and hard for our benefit and for the greater health of all. Raise a glass - if you're allowed to - to them.

The beach in the photo would normally be crowded but today it is quiet because of local restrictions and the need to keep people distanced from one another. Only the claw prints of gulls disturb the sand. This beach lies not far from where David and Louise met in my novel, the place where they contemplated the possibility of a future that might allow them to be together. But it took too long, there were obstacles along the way, and in the end it was a new generation that followed up on their hopes.

And that is our hope, too.
That our children and grandchildren will stay safe; that they will find a way to survive this time of shuttered schools, slim opportunities and sad loss, and emerge with greater resilience. And our task?
To support them, certainly, but also help them to be brave.
To look beyond the empty beach.