“Getting There” Book Launch

March 23, 2025.  The air was festive, the hors d' oeuvres were delicious, the room was packed, a book was fittingly launched, and an author was heartily celebrated.  If you missed the opportunity to join the fun, or want to remember a darn good time, here are some highlights of the afternoon.

 Introductory Remarks by Faith Sullivan
  “Sandy Bloom was born to write.  Her high school English teacher, Phyllis Lyders, recognized Sandy’s talent and encouraged it.
   “God bless English teachers.  God bless all teachers.  And damn Donald Trump and Elon Musk and their enablers for destroying the Department of Education, along with much of academic freedom.  Ahem.  There.  I’ve got that out of my system.
   “Getting back to Sandy who is, after all, the reason we’re here.
   “Sandy and I have known each other as friend and as writing mentor for many years.  She has been a delight to work with, in part, because she has a mind like a steel trap.  You suggest something to Sandy, and “snap!” she’s got it.
   “The tasks Sandy has set herself in her writing have been daunting ones – in Waiting to Believe, imagining the intellectual and emotional challenges of a would-be nun who questions, not her faith, but her role in it.  Sandy’s partner Colleen, once a nun herself, was great help with the facts of convent life, but translating factual knowledge into the right words to convey emotional content is another matter entirely.
   “In this new novel, Getting There, creating an exotic foreign setting is part of Sandy’s challenge.  She met the challenge and then some.  She is gifted at capturing the flavor, the feel, the texture of an environment, whether it’s the cold stone floor of a convent, or the heat of an equatorial afternoon.
   “It is my enormous pleasure to bring you the girl herself to explain how she creates these extraordinary reading experiences for you.”