Lea Wait here, looking forward to the April 30 publication date for the 8th in my Mainely Needlepoint series. (With thanks to everyone who’s followed Angie Curtis and her friends in Haven Harbor, Maine! Without readers … there would be no books.)

Every book is special to its author — perhaps because of a connection to the author’s life, or because of when it was written, or because of a character that was especially fun, or important, to write.

In THREAD ON ARRIVAL, that character  is a teenaged boy named Leo.

When I was a child (a few years back,) I especially loved reading books about feisty “orphans who made good.” Anne of Green Gables? Check. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm? Of course. And an assortment of Louisa May Alcott characters. When I was still in elementary school I decided that when I grew up I would adopt an orphan, like the characters I loved. (Think Alcott’s LITTLE MEN.)

When I was in my twenties I volunteered with children aged 6-12 who, for various reasons, could no longer live with their families. Most went on to foster or adoptive homes. When I was twenty-eight I applied to adopt as a single parent. My first daughter came home when she was four, and I was thirty. She was followed by three other girls, ages 8-10. I founded a support group for single adoptive parents.  I helped prospective parents find agencies that would work with them. I conducted classes for single and married adults to introduce them to the realities of adoption.

Some of my friends were foster parents, so I became familiar with the highs and lows of parenting children “in the system.” In my book SHADOWS ON A MORNING IN MAINE my protagonist, Maggie Summer, adopts a girl who has been in foster care.

Now, in THREAD ON ARRIVAL, I introduce a new character to Haven Harbor. Leo’s parents are dead, and he is a survivor of the foster care system. His life hasn’t been easy. He hasn’t been easy. And now he’s suspected of murder.

Welcome to Haven Harbor, Leo. You’ve found your forever home.