Searching for the Postmark

About the Book

Can one place help two people come to terms with the past, and can a series of long-distance letters provide the basis for a future?

Reaching out into Lake Michigan, the slender peninsula of Door County, Wisconsin is a place of idyllic beauty and rustic charm - of sailboats and sunsets, dormant cherry orchards, and dry-docked wooden fishing boats. It is a place Brian Bailey loves - and tries to escape to. But the quaint tourist towns, quiet back roads, and weathered gray barns offer little respite from his memories.

Memories never known bring Colleen O'Connell from Arizona to The Door in search of the places her brother held dear. Hoping to find remembrance in a place she's never been, she finds instead an old farmhouse, perched atop a hill.

The story of two people brought together by the very distance that separates them, Searching for the Postmark asks difficult and uniquely human questions about what it means to live, love, and die - and how the fellowship of family helps us find meaning in the fleeting nature of our existence. From the remembrance and longing of autumn to the excitement and hope of spring, Brian and Colleen's journey through the seasons tells a story of holding on and letting go, of memories kept and created, of letters sent and unsent. A beautifully descriptive and deeply introspective testament to the power of people and place, Searching for the Postmark is a summer read that will stay with you into fall, and winter.

"What I hope to have written," writes author Jeff Donovan, "is a book that, in addition to telling a nice story, will also give the reader pause to think and reflect, on the death of a loved one, and on that from which we draw meaning in our lives."

A thought provoking love story about accepting the loss of a loved one, Searching for the Postmark will appeal to anyone who finds special meaning in the dream of Door County, and have meaning for anyone who has lost a special loved one.

About the Author

Jeff Donovan lives in Wisconsin with his wife and three daughters in an old farmhouse with two front doors. The author divides his time between laundry and dishes, following the Green Bay Packers, and driving his children here and there - and there and here. When not busy wondering if all his hair will fall out before he cuts his ponytail, he spends most of his remaining free time thinking about writing, and very little of his remaining free time actually writing. His other books are as yet unwritten.

The author may be contacted through his website at www.swammpybooks.com