Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls is my second contemporary novel. It is a stand-alone book about so many aspects of women’s lives that I have found it difficult to put limits on the categories the book explores.
Emily Burdis is a woman in her mid-thirties; the proverbial “thirty-something” state of mind for many women. The baby-clock is ticking and suddenly she realizes that, despite her career-focus, she wants a family: she wants the life her two closest friends also want but are many steps ahead of her. Also not in her favor is the prospect that she may be infertile.
While she dates eligible men, no one as yet has measured up to the man she envisions as the “perfect man for her”… not the perfect man but the man who is perfect for her. When she faces the fact that a family is vital to her, she takes the steps needed to find a solution.
Many women in my acquaintance have faced this same situation, including me. Several of my friends have experienced the heartbreak of multiple miscarriages, infertility, fertility treatments, the desperate longing for a child. All of these are familiar to me, as a woman and, finally, as a mother and wife.
I wrote Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls about these experiences and feelings. For many women, the birth of a much longed-for child is the greatest moment of our lives. Similarly, the unexpected loss of a much longed-for baby is devastating. Some of my friends experienced years of hope and loss until their treatment was successful.
My second novel is a tribute to the strength and determination of women to fulfill their maternal needs and desires.