Hawaii, 1968. Vietnam always on the horizon.

Closeted and trying to have a life apart from the malice of certain fellow Marines, Tomby finds a lifeline in a secret friendship with the wife of one of his harassers. Valetta, married too young to the wrong person for the wrong reason, is stuck on the island with no one she can call a friend—until Tomby. Two outcasts of nineteen in a far too adult world.

Little by little, their bond becomes a safe harbor for honesty. For each, accidental mentors also step up, as adversaries persist and Vietnam draws closer. The pressure mounts to choose between duty and truth, and the two friends risk everything for a chance at freedom.

Rendered in precise, lived-in detail that brings to vivid life the Hawaii of Vietnam-era recruits, Crossings is a novel about desire and constraint, the courage to find true home—and the heart to make that crossing possible.

ABOUT the AUTHOR
Laurel Ferejohn has published fiction, memoir, poetry, and essays in journals including Quiddity, Southeast Review, Flash Fiction, Salvation South, Persimmon Tree, and others. Crossings is her debut novel. It was named to the longlist for the Lee Smith Novel Prize from Blair, and a story in one of its chapters won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize.
Having emerged from a career in journals publishing, Laurel has been an independent developmental editor for writers of creative prose for a decade, and she heads the scholarship committee of the annual residential Table Rock Writers Workshop.
California born, raised, and educated, Laurel lives with her wife in a vibrant region of North Carolina known for its universities, arts, foodie scene, and progressive political culture.