Justine Fernandez

Beyond Elsewhere: a Novel Justine Fernandez

Carrington Coyle?s life as a young adult is full of promise: a new career as a teacher and potential romances with two different men, both of whom she finds attractive and exciting. She still struggles with being the child of an abusive, alcoholic mother, however, and her residual anger and crushing self-doubt simmer in a rage just beneath her cheery exterior. While her relationship with her grandmother, A. C., is full of closeness and love, she and her younger half-sister, Melissa, remain in a tense stalemate with jealousy and abandonment issues keeping them at arm?s length. When her estranged cousin Gloria, a recovering drug addict, arrives searching for help from A. C., Carrington?s jealousy erupts as her carefully crafted world begins to feel like it will all come crashing down. These four women?Carrington, A. C., Gloria, and Melissa?wrestle with the weight of their respective pasts, the cycle of violence and addiction having torn a wide, devastating swath through their collective experiences. They must come to understand and accept one another to find forgiveness and connection. If they don?t, the horror of the past will keep them at painful odds forever. A touching and intense portrayal of one family?s struggle to find peace and healing, Beyond Elsewhere is a poignant character study full of humor and hope.