Josie and Vic: A Novel
By (Author) Debra Thomas
She Writes Press
She Writes Press
11th April 2023
United States
General
Fiction
813.6
Paperback
286
Width 139mm, Height 215mm
When Josie Serafinis brother Vic loses his wife and children in a tragic accident, Josie leaves her home and beloved horses in Upstate New York to join him in Los Angeles. While helping Vic pick up the pieces of his shattered life, Josie confronts broken relationships with her estranged father and rebellious, singer-songwriter daughter. Josie and Vic each struggle to find where they belong in their changing worlds. Josie finds comfort in nature and in a budding, long-distance relationship with the empathetic equine veterinarian caring for her horses back home. Vic battles depression as he seeks purpose in his life. Josies three horses and a Siberian husky help open hearts to tenderness and healingbut its an unexpected journey to the US-Mexico border that offers this fragmented family a chance to reconnect. A story of love, loss, and forgiveness, Josie and Vic conveys hopeeven in the darkest of times.
. . . family saga with an uplifting ending.
Kirkus Reviews
Debra Thomas is a magician. Her artistry and empathy and gentle humor allow Josie and Vic, a novel grounded in the deepest of grief, to shine with hope, with compassion, with the reminder that connection and service offer us paths toward healing. An unforgettable, heart-filled, heart-filling novel.
Gayle Brandeis, author of The Book of Dead Birds, winner of Barbara Kingsolvers Bellwether Prize
In this beautifully crafted novel, tragedies test family bonds while revealing the power of love and the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen
Josie and Vic encompasses personal love, human love beyond borders, and, ultimately, global love, as Madre Tierras Turtle Islands slowly move together to create a new Pangaea. A new form and a new hopethe future reimagined.
Alma Luz Villanueva, American Book Awardwinning author of Song of the Golden Scorpion and Gracias
With an authentic sense of place and time, Josie and Vic pulls the reader into the emotional depths of familial relationships and the pain of generational secrets. Author Debra Thomas has created characters who illuminate the essentials of the human heart in this story of love, loss, and renewal.
Johnnie Bernhard, author of Hannah and Ariela Debra Thomas is a master at creating complex and believable characters who deal with abandonment issues, tragedy, starting over when all seems lostand the soul connection between animals and humans.
Kathleen M. Rodgers, author of 2021 WILLA Literary Award Finalist The Flying Cutterbucks
Josie Serafinitough yet tenderwins us over from the first page in award-winning Debra Thomass second novel Josie and Vic. Dealing with layers of anxiety, grief, and loss, Josie shows us that sometimes the longest road home teaches us the most about ourselves. For fans of Ann Patchett, Joyce Carol Oates, and Barbara Kingsolver. A lovely book.
Ashley E. Sweeney, New Mexico-Arizona Book Award winner of Answer Creek
Josie and Vic is about transcending tragedy and finding the way back, or the way forward, with the help of those you loveor those who care enough to leave blue flags along the way. An incredibly touching, heartbreaking story, filled with heart and soul.
Lorraine Devon Wilke, author of The Alchemy of Noise
Josie and Vic is a rare gift to thoughtful readers. In our cynical times, Debra Thomas lingers with everyday peoplepeople who struggle as they confront tragedy and loss, yet rise above it by connecting with each other. This is a novel of connectionsomething I deeply needed.
Shelley Blanton-Stroud, author of the Jane Benjamin Novels
The tectonic plates that have undergirded siblings Josie and Vic are shattered by unspeakable loss, and each must make sense of their life in order to find their way back home. All things are bound together, Chief Seattle says, and they are in Thomass exquisite telling and crystalline prose. Each member of this multigenerational family must seek forgiveness and reconciliation, as we too must do within ourselves, as well as across regions, countries, and continents. Thomass storytelling gift is one of empathy for her characters, both human and animal, and love of family in all its complicated conditions.
Gretchen Cherington, author of Poetic License
Against a Southern California backdrop, shifting dynamics in a family are brought into focus in a sensitive story of people set adrift from life's great tragedies. A clear-sighted, moving, contemporary story of the familial support it takes to bravely move forward, Josie and Vic explores what it takes to heal a shattered self in favor of joining a greater whole.
Claire Fullerton, author of Little Tea
Josie and Vic captured me; I devoured it in two sittings, totally engaged and invested in the characters. An amazing story of love and loss, love and family, love and hope, this heartwarming novel is a compassionate tale of connections and explorations, underlining well-known truths and providing new insights as to how we navigate our worlds.
Romalyn Tilghman, author of To the Stars Through Difficulties
There is so much hope and forgiveness laced throughout Debra Thomas's examination of a family that has drifted apart and finally learns how to come back together. The imagery in Josie and Vic is equally powerfulfrom the intertwining roots of the maple trees in the familys upstate New York home to the glass sculpture reflecting light, music, and energy in Seattle to the vibrant tradition of Da de los Muertos in Southern California, celebrating love, life and remembrance. These characters stayed with me long after the final page. Bravo!
Mary Camarillo, author of The Lockhart Women
Beautifully crafted and richly detailed, this is a novel with a conscience and something important to say.
Jeannee Sacken, author of Behind the Lens and Double Exposure
With tenderness and empathy, Debra Thomas weaves together decades of family secrets, betrayals, and tragedies. How do you find your way back home after unimaginable loss
Eileen Harrison Sanchez, author of Freedom Lessons
Debra Thomas is a Sarton Award winner for her debut novel, Luz. Josie and Vic is her second novel. Originally from Binghamton, New York, she has lived in Southern California most of her adult life. After working a decade as a registered nurse, Debra returned to college to pursue her passion for literature and writing. She is a former English teacher at a Los Angeles public high school, as well as English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor to adults from all over the world. Her experiences as an immigrant rights advocate influence much of her writing. She currently lives with her husband and little dog in Simi Valley, California, just minutes away from her two horses. For more information, visit her website is http://www.debrathomasauthor.com