My three “Journey” novels featuring Nina, her English Setter Harry, and friends Alex, Meredith, and Miguel, take place in rural central Virginia. Its rolling hills, sunny fields, and winding roads are beautiful.
During recent drives through that area, with green leaves and spring blossoms emerging, my eyes seemed to focus on the bare, leafless silhouettes of large dead trees in the fields.
They were huge, stark caricatures of what they once were, branches spread, often shaped by the wind and...




