Author Eme McAnam will be in Grand Marais Thursday, July 27, reading from her new book, Freefalling: A Novel of Senior Romance. The reading and book signing event will be held at The Hub (10 Broadway Ave, Grand Marais, MN 55604), formerly known as the Senior Center, at 1:00 pm.
The complexities of romantic love in the world of so-called senior citizens are not regularly featured in popular culture. Eme describes Freefalling as a hopeful story depicting a woman who at 60 years old realizes that her dedication to her career has kept her from finding the love of her life. “She unfortunately suffers from dementia. Going from a sexy, competent, vibrant woman, Charlotte who is the heroine of the story, transforms into another beautiful version of herself supported by love,” Eme said.
Eme says her writing is informed by her pre-retirement career managing a senior focused assisted living facility. The book is also influenced by the North Shore.
“I’ve been obsessed with the North Shore for decades,” Eme said. Several scenes in the book are set on local hiking trails.
Eme actually wrote while staying at Cliff Dweller Hotel on Lake Superior in Tofte. “I stayed in unit one and wrote from midnight to 4 am,” she said. “With the windows open, the rhythm of the lake has a lot to do with how the story moved along.”
Freefalling is Eme’s first novel and she’s already got another in the works.
She grew up in New Ulm, MN, the third youngest of nine children. From her earliest memories she wanted to be a professional singer. “I remember as a child standing on picnic tables, singing songs for people,” she said.
Eme graduated from the University of Minnesota and studied speech and theater. She pursued a singing and songwriting career creating a hit single on the Billboard Country Top 100 some 40 years ago.
After becoming a single mother, and realizing that her music career wasn’t paying the bills, she gave up on professional singing and built a business certifying fitness instructors, and then moving on to become a financial advisor, mostly for older clients. After being the source of financial advice for a number of seniors, and seeing all the needs they had, she entered into managing an assisted living facility in the Twin Cities.
With almost a decade in senior services, Eme found many characteristics that inspired the characters of Freefalling. “Both men and women are different in senior romance,” she said.
“As a financial advisor and managing the facility I began to see seniors as full people,” she said. “The seeds of who they were in their younger years never went away.”
In Freefalling, Charlotte ages from 60 to 75, suffers the ravages of dementia, and finds romantic love.
Retirement, Eme says, is one more season looking for opportunities. Speaking at book signing events, she has found that she likes public speaking and that she’s pretty good at it. “It’s all about living joy to our last breath,” she said.
Her book can be found on Amazon and other major retailers. Copies will be available on the 27th and Eme looks forward to signing copies for all who want one.
Her website is www.emespirit.com.
