Book Spotlight: An Accidental Life: A Novel

An Accidental Life: A Novel 

Paperback – 

September 1, 2013

by Pamela Binnings Ewen  (Author)'

• Paperback : 368 pages
• ISBN-13 : 978-0805464320
• Publisher : B&H Books 

In a 1982 New Orleans courtroom the best kept secret in the world is about to unravel, and a young couple's jet set lives are about to change. Senior district attorney Peter Jacobs is facing the trial of a lifetime, a passionate, spiritual battle against an evil with far reaching consequences. His beloved wife Rebecca, a glamorous and driven partner at a major law firm, suddenly finds her life spun out of control and her new faith tested while facing a once in a lifetime choice.

New from lawyer-turned-novelist Pamela binnings Ewen, An Accidental Life is fiction based on fact: the testimony of registered nurse Jill Stanek before a U.S. Congressional Committee confirming that it was routine for doctors in Chicago's Christ Hospital to have nurses take infants born alive during abortions down to a "soiled utility room" and leave them to die.

Stanek's testimony led Congress to enact the Born Alive Infant Protection Act of 2001, a federal-only law that still does not bind state run hospitals or private clinics. The fact remains that what happens to abortion survivors is one of the best kept secrets in the world.

Biography

I love...carousels and bells and balloons, the smell of fresh cut grass, and clover in the morning wet with dew. Green and white and dappled light, shifting shadows on a hot summer's day. Rain at night. Ribboned moonglow on the waters of a bay.

And you, dear readers!

Pamela Binnings Ewen--that's me--lives just 20 minutes north of New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain in a river parish of pine woods, steamy moss-laden swamps, and artists, writers, dreamers. This is an extension of New Orleans, the part you've probably never seen. It's Walker Percy country.

I'm a New Orleans Lady and a reformed lawyer. Faith On Trial was my first book and I wrote it out of compulsion as one who'd been a skeptic about religion for most of my adult life. The '60's, Ayn Rand, vague answers...all turned me into a seeker of meaning and purpose. It took over ten years to research and write that book. I put Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on trial, and they won.

My life changed as a result. Faith is my compass now. I exchanged partnership in the international law firm of BakerBotts L.L.P. for a career writing full time. Take a look at my website and check out my novels-- The Moon in the Mango Tree, The Secret of the Shroud (formerly Walk Back the Cat), Dancing on Glass, Chasing the Wind, An Accidental Life.

The Moon in the Mango Tree--the 1920's, the jazz age. Jungles and palaces of the Orient, Paris, Lausanne, Rome. This is the story of my grandmother's life in the 1920's, the jazz age; a woman forced in the end to choose between two things she loves.

The Secret of the Shroud is a story of power and revenge, a choice between good and evil, and a secret of the Shroud of Turin. The latest research on the Shroud provides the key. (One thing lawyers are good at is research!) Check out my blog on the Shroud in Turin during the extraordinary exhibition in Turin, Italy, May 2010.

And New Orleans--1970's and 80's. Dancing on Glass, Chasing the Wind, and an Accidental life, a trilogy. Two young women lawyers blasting through the glass ceiling in a man's world while fighting to maintain balance in their lives. See you at www.pamelaewen.com!