Fiction Sophia - Judith Ashley

Sophia

Every Ending Is A Beginning

Widowed teacher Sophia Stewart looks for a new way to add purpose to her life after the death of a friend. Her plan: volunteer to check on vulnerable adults. On a dark November night, a home visit goes wrong when a younger man exploiting one of her clients harasses her. Afraid he will follow her up the overgrown path to her car, Sophia calls 911.

Over twenty-five years on the force, where cruel and depraved actions come with the territory, have left Police Captain Cameron “Cam” Mitchell cynical and emotionally closed off. Though off duty, he responds to a radio dispatch to a nearby address. A woman is being threatened. When Sophia scrambles out of the darkness into his arms, the spark between them catches him off guard.

Sophia’s generous nature and love of life despite the tragedies she’s experienced call to the black hole within Cam. The energetic work she and her circle sisters have been doing enables Sophia to see a glimmer of light within the officer’s dark aura. She recognizes who he was—and can be again.
With the support of her circle sisters and their husbands, Sophia and Cam struggle to find their way forward, to build a life of love in the light.

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Read the Creation Story

Sophia and Now

From the beginning, even before I knew their names, I knew one woman would be happily married and invite the others to join her on her spiritual quest. Imagine my surprise when, as I’m writing Lily, I find out Jonathan, Sophia’s husband, was killed in a traffic accident!

But I digress.

As the last book in the original series (yes, there will be more forthcoming in 2017 if all goes well), I thought it would be the longest. In fact, it is the shortest. I thought many things about starting and finishing this book that did not materialize. I’m not sure why I was surprised. When I sit down to write it is after rather vivid and lucid dreams and visions where the next scene unfolds. At least that’s what usually happens.

However, I also have times when I sit down and just start where I left off and the story comes to me. That doesn’t mean it needs no work. Sometimes the story has an element that needs some research such as Cam’s work. When a virus takes out a multitude of patrol officers, who fills in? Originally I have Cam as a captain who takes to patrolling the streets of Fremont when his North Precinct is hit hard by a virulent virus. (I just love alliteration).

Sophia’s story actually starts in Gabriella’s story. A friend she’s been helping out since Lily dies and his death rocks her world. Of course the hero must be in a profession where he faces the possibility of death on a daily basis – thus someone in law enforcement.

In the earlier books you see Sophia’s love for life, her garden, her generosity of spirit and food easily flow. Now it is curtailed and she isn’t sure what is important. Cam brings a darkness into her life that Sophia struggles with.

Can she help him find The Light?

Will she be pulled into The Darkness?

As I write this piece, Sophia is with my first reader. Next is my editor. I expect after I’ve incorporated their suggestions, ideas and fixed the errors they’re sure to find, I’ll have Sophia published in e-book by early November with the print book coming shortly thereafter.

For now the voices and visions are quiet—except for the occasional whisper of an idea for another book featuring one of the characters you’ve met while reading The Sacred Women’s Circle series.