TWISTING LEGACY

Professional pianist, Ava Skinner, is living a near-idyllic life with her husband, Langdon, in their Naples, Florida, Gulf Shore Drive mansion until she is assailed by disturbing symptoms that cause her to feel and behave uncharacteristically. When an unshakable dread of the future invades her every waking thought, desperation and suspicion drive her back to the orphanage where she was reared to search for information about her family, especially a medical history.

In a dusty file, she discovers an unopened letter from her mother, Isabella, who writes about a tragic family legacy. After a doctor confirms Ava's worst fears and reveals a second shocking surprise, she hides the dreadful revelations from her overburdened husband and makes plans for her future.

Wrestling with a world that is collapsing around her, burdened with lies and guilt, and frantic to conceal her worsening symptoms from her husband, Ava flees to Maracaibo, Venezuela, on the pretext of searching for information about her family. Determined to protect Langdon from learning the truth, she vows to take her secrets to her grave.

In Maracaibo, Venezuela, Ava searches for relatives, locating a cousin, Miguel, in the terminal stage of the family illness, a genetic disease that rampaged through several generations of the family as its members migrated from Venezuela to Florida, and pitches in to help his wife, Mariella, care for him. Despite losing her home, her job, and any hope for a future with her terminally-ill husband, poverty-stricken Mariela, who lives in a one-room shack in an alley, has surrendered everything in the name of love. She is the yardstick by which Ava measures her own fortitude.

As Ava's journey continues, she becomes intimate with the obstacles and challenges endured by some members of her family, and back in Florida, Langdon makes his own unbelievable discovery. In spite of Ava's deception, her extreme sacrifice and courage afford her story an ending in which love endures and hope remains.

The novel set, in two dissimilar cultures--Naples, Florida, and Maracaibo, Venezuela--provides a startling contrast between the rich and the poor, touches on the plight of migrant farm workers, and offers readers a realistic picture of the psychological burdens borne by individuals suffering from terminal or chronic illnesses and the families that love them.

Most important, Twisting Legacy puts a face on a little-known, hereditary disease, including finding the causative gene, managing the illness, and counseling individuals at risk. Despite progress, there is still no cure.

Compulsively readable and deeply heartfelt, Twisting Legacy casts a poignant, illuminating light on the scourge of one particular genetic disease and the courageous people who are forced--every day--to deal with its inhumane ravages.