Legacy

Legacy is the story of a teenage girl, Legacy Loving, who lives in an idyllic setting, a pristine island set just off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico.  Idyllic, that is, until her sister mysteriously disappears, an oil rig explosion threatens the ecosystem of the island that she loves, and Legacy is suddenly challenged to determine just who she is, what she is made of, and what her purpose is in life.

Legacy works at a wildlife refuge, loves nature, and enjoys spending her time outdoors - swimming, boating, and exploring a beautiful and mysterious island that is replete with a rich history of Spanish conquistadors, pirates, and buried treasure. She is a teenager with a great life and few cares or concerns, until circumstances dramatically change - and she is forced to deal with the disappearance of a charismatic older sister who was larger than life, an environmental activist and local hero ... and Legacy's best friend. Legacy suddenly must negotiate her way through a changed relationship with her parents, strained relations with friends, and barely passing grades at school. When an ecological disaster threatens the wildlife refuge where she works, as well as the island where she lives, Legacy is faced with having to decide whether to step out of her sister's shadow, reconcile the happy memories of her past with the glaring demands of the present, and to take responsibility for preventing the destruction of everything she knows and loves.

Legacy is a story of love and loss, of friendship and sacrifice, of duty to family and responsibility to self. Ultimately, Legacy demonstrates that love is more powerful than death; that no mission is too great with a bit of hope, courage, and determination; and that even a tragedy can be re-made and resurrected into something new, beautiful, and lasting. 

At its core, Legacy is a book about becoming an adult - where the joy and innocence of youth suddenly meet with the harsh reality that nothing in this world is secure, that people die, families change, and even the environment in which we live can be destroyed.

Megan McCormick is a 2015 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in Anthropology, minored in European Studies, and received her B.A. summa cum laude. She is a native of Washington, D.C., where she began writing Legacy while a student at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, based upon her love of animals, nature, and especially the wildlife and environment of Sanibel Island, Florida, where she vacationed as a child. Legacy is her first book.