Sebastian Lavalle is just 15 when he leaves home in 1934 to join the Navy. Seven years later, Sebastian unfortunately knows all too well about the horrors of World War II and what it is like to fear the unknown. 

When repairs forced his ship to the rugged shore of Newcastle, the young French naval officer is invited to a tea dance. He seizes the opportunity hoping to find comfort and a small taste of home. Amelia Sullivan, the daughter of Irish immigrant parents, is thrilled to be attending the tea dance. When Sebastian’s eyes find her in the crowd, he drinks in her exotic beauty. Moments later as he draws her into his arms for a dance, there is no doubt in his mind that he has just met the woman of his dreams. Days later, Sebastian professes his love and marries her, sending them both on an unforgettable journey through betrayal, survival, and forgiveness. 

Their soul-searching journey not only takes the reader from England’s coast to the French Riviera, but also to Tennessee. Their journey explores the many facets and depths of love leading to the realization of what true happiness means.

The story continues in AMAZING GRACE by Christiane Banks

Amazing Grace continues the multi-faceted, compelling saga of the Lavalle family as their tapestry weaves ordinary events with extraordinary circumstances.

It is Christmas 1975 as Sebastian Lavalle sits at the dining room table, surrounded by his family, finally reunited after a six-year absence. Although his beautiful wife, Amelia, is now gone, her exuberance shines from within his two grandchildren. As Sebastian joins his children in raising a glass to his late wife, his eyes fill with tears. 

He does not know it yet, but three years from that Christmas, he will return to France and purchase the old stone house and property his parents once owned. As Sebastian’s childhood home in France becomes a part of his life, the Lavalle family experiences crippling miner strikes, the Falklands War, and severe recessions.

When his daughter, Abby, eventually follows her heart to the United States, she is reunited with her soulmate, the young Father Gabriel. As she embarks on a fascinating journey into the unknown, she meets Byron Grant, a world-famous magician, his wife and children, and Byron’s dear friend, Dr Andrew Mason, a divorced father of two.

As both men and their families reach out to Abby for different reasons, she finds love in the most unexpected place of all.