How far would you allow a stranger to question your life?
Disconnected, arrogant, and a little too fond of scotch, Simon drifts through the routines of his day, garnering the praise that sustains him. A knock on the office door interrupts the uniformity, when a complete stranger throws his world into question. He faces a choice: disengage from the conversation or see where her words take him.
When It Matters Most explores how our framing of relationships, grief, and purpose impacts our own experience and the lives of those around us.
The novel’s core rests on a series of traditional wisdom tales that I learned while preparing messages for my 1000 strong community. Wanting to bring the globally diverse stories to a wider audience, I wrapped a narrative around the tales, connected to the life of a disaffected minister. To illustrate the veracity of the wisdom, the novel focuses on the emotional and spiritual complexities of death as a way of shedding light on how we choose to live. Drawing on my direct experience with the dying and their families, along with my time in corporate board rooms and homeless shelters, I strove to create an ensemble of characters that represents the span of the human condition.
Published in 2016, the book’s distribution suffered from a few missteps and the eventual dissolution of the publishing company. The rights were recently returned to me and I plan to release a revised version in the near future at a more accessible price point. My hope is to share the wisdom stories as widely as possible.
Keven Fletcher 