It’s not easy when you’re almost 40 and you’re trying to make big things happen. It’s no secret that I’m a big dreamer and that I aim high. It takes a lot of perseverance to make things happen – no matter what age you are, and a lot of courage to battle against the “you’re how old and you’re still trying to make it?” gnomes. When you’re surrounded by people who appear to have more than you – whether you’re looking through the lenses of highlights reels on Facebook or you’re at a friend’s house in Manhattan – it’s even more important to keep your eye on the end goal.
In Maria Murnane’s latest novel, Bridges, Daphne White is filled with big dreams – and a lot of envy of her friends. When she sees her friend Skylar living in luxury, she begins to experience self-doubt and she starts questioning herself and her dreams. After all the novel she finished hasn’t done anything but land in slush piles and recycling bins at publishing houses. The thing I like most about this fun novel about the power of friendship and dreaming big – and about how things are always more than what they seem when you dig down deep.
Bridges: A Daphne White Novel by Maria Murnane
It’s a piece of news Daphne never expected to hear: Her globe-trotting friend Skylar, who vowed never to get married, is engaged! Time to celebrate in Manhattan—Skylar’s treat, of course. After years scaling the corporate ladder, she can more than afford it.
Daphne arrives in NYC with news of her own—the novel she’s finally finished appears to be going nowhere but the trash bin of every publishing house around. She’s devastated but plans to keep her disappointment under wraps, something that becomes trickier when she sees Skylar’s spectacular apartment. Could her life have been like this if she’d chosen a different path?
What Daphne doesn’t know is she’s not the only one with a secret. Skylar and their friend KC are also holding something back, but what? As the trip unfolds, the truth about each woman emerges, along with tears. And laughter. And love.
The fun-loving trio readers fell for in Wait for the Rain is together once more. Here’s to the power of friendship!
About the Author
A former PR executive who abandoned a successful career to pursue a more fulfilling life, Maria Murnane is the bestselling author of the Waverly Bryson series (which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly), as well as Katwalk, Wait for the Rain, and International Book Award winner Cassidy Lane. Maria spent a year playing semi-pro soccer in Argentina, during which she wrote Perfect on Paper. It was initially turned down by several major publishing houses. In an effort to prove them wrong, Maria self-published and implemented a creative, grass-roots marketing campaign. Within a year Perfect on Paper attracted the attention of senior executives at Amazon, who chose it out of more than 10,000 self-published titles for the company’s venture into traditional publishing. They offered Maria a contract, and a year later Perfect on Paper reached #2 overall on Amazon.
Organizations that have invited Maria to speak include the Harvard Women’s Leadership Conference, the Massachusetts Conference for Women, the Baltimore Book Festival, the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, the Texas Conference for Women, and Temple University’s Fox School of Business. At her speaking engagements Maria shares the “story behind the story,” an entertaining tale of courage, passion and perseverance that has inspired audiences across the country to follow their dreams—no matter what. She’s been featured in Huffington Post, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Entrepreneur, Money, Shape, and PopSugar.
Maria was a Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholar at UC Berkeley, where she graduated with high honors in English and
Spanish and was an Alumni Scholar. She also received a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from
Northwestern University. She currently lives in New York City and plays soccer four times a week.
Purchase Bridges
You can purchase Bridges on Amazon, here. (Amazon Associates link)
