Rotarian Leanna Sain (RC of Hendersonville, NC-USA) earned her BA from the University of South Carolina before moving back to the mountains of western NC. The writing of her latest novel, Hush, began as a sort of therapy while watching Alzheimer’s disease destroy her mother, but it morphed into a novel.

“It was a way for me to deal with all the fear, anger, sadness and helplessness those long months generated,” said Sain. “I couldn’t change anything in real life, but it was different with my story. With it, I had complete control.”

Sain decided to make the main character’s mother have Alzheimer’s so she was able to weave some of her own mother’s words and actions right into the story. “It was cathartic,” she added. “It helped me cope during one of the most difficult circumstances of my life.”

The book is dedicated to Sain’s mother, and she is donating a portion of the sales of the book to The CART Fund to support Alzheimer’s research. She loves leading discussion groups and book clubs, and would be happy to speak to Rotary Clubs as well. For more information or to contact her, visit: www.LeannaSain.com.

HUSH—by Leanna Sain

     Lacey Campbell dreams murders before they happen. 

     The night she dreams of a man strangling a young woman while crooning the lullaby “Hush, Little Baby,” she tries to convince herself it doesn’t mean anything. The next day she’s horrified to learn her dream was reality. Then she dreams the second murder….

     Agent Detective Ford Jamison is called in from the State Bureau of Investigation to help the local police, and he soon has a working theory about the murders. His belief that the killer is using the lullaby as a “blueprint” to target women who resemble Lacey, doesn’t slow the killings. Each verse of the song sees another woman strangled, with the police always lagging one step behind.

     Juggling the care of a mother in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease, with her job as head chef at a prestigious restaurant in town, Lacey is now afraid to fall asleep at night because the next face she sees in her dream might be her own. 

     As a hurricane churns ever closer to the little coastal town, danger and suspicion spins out of control. Time is running out. Can Lacey and Ford stop the killer before the last verse of the lullaby?