"Family, love, and trauma are vital aspects of our relational lives. Yet, what (and who) makes up a ''family,'' and what is the ''right'' way to love? Also, what happens to the family and love we have come to expect and need when trauma invades our lives? Patricia Leavy''s Constellations immerses readers in the process of exploring these issues. Her latest novel is an accessible story and immerses readers in situations that will lead us to re-examine both how we have lived and the people we have loved. Like the stars that appear in our nighttime skies, people and relationships are forever interconnected. The dynamic love story of Tess and Jack continues!" - Keith Berry, Ph.D., University of South Florida "In this gorgeous novel, talented writer Patricia Leavy brings back her unforgettable characters in the third Tess Lee and Jack Miller installation. Tess Lee''s motto is to move through darkness into light.
In Constellations , Tess brings light to family trauma, grief, and missed opportunities. This novel explores the idea of what family--in every sense of the word--can be. The vivid prose and beautifully rendered characters left me filled with hope and a sense of possibility. I highly recommend this book. I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down until I reached the last word." - Jessica Smartt Gullion, Ph.D., Texas Woman''s University "Tess and Jack are back, and I want to be adopted into this family.
Constellations is told as a family saga through the arc of the holiday season. There''s anger and reconciliation, false fronts abandoned and real connection reestablished, a brush with death and new lives begun. And all the while, people who are thrown together by birth and by happenstance find they can come together to form a constellation of love in all its forms: between partners, among friends, within families. You will want to immerse yourself in the constellation of love and self-knowledge to imagine the celebrations of Christmas and Easter and of everyday life." - Eve Spangler, Ph.D., Boston College "With her incisive sociological eye, Leavy offers another riveting book about the nuances and beauty of mundane interaction, the significance of friendship and family, the ways steadfast love and commitment can withstand adversity, and the growth that can stem from grief, loss, conflict, and success." - Tony E.
Adams, Bradley University "As an instructor of the practice of social work on both the graduate and undergraduate level, it brings me great joy when I read academic pieces that are tailored to both the learning process and the internalizing of empathy. While reading Constellations , I immediately began pondering how I could use this work of art in my Individuals and Families courses, in my Diversity courses, in my Human Behavior and the Social Environment courses, and on and on. Dr. Leavy touches on so many sociological subjects in one beautifully laid out story and hints at the complexities of so many lives that as one turns the last page of the book, you know the healing process has really just begun. So tonight, as you look into the sky and notice that one bright and shiny star, know that there is an entire constellation behind it, and so it is with our clients and our students." - Renita M. Davis, LICSW, PIP, Troy University " Constellations returns us to the enchanting universe of the world''s most successful author, Tess Lee, and former FBI agent Jack Miller. Set during the ever-fraught family season, we begin to see the real challenges inherent in two broken people coming together, where unaddressed past traumas leak into our present to infect our now.
Leavy is able to eviscerate you by weaving the deep traumas that Tess and Jack have experienced, traumas that in less-skilled hands would feel like a plot point to drive a narrative forward and then be forgotten by the protagonists once they fall in love. Constellations expertly explores the ways in which trauma embeds itself, even after the happily ever after. Yet, Leavy reminds us that love, in all its forms, is ultimately rewarded by delving more deeply into the ways that Tess''s spirit brings an array of wonderful people into her life to become her living comfort blanket, or indeed her constellation, that can only survive through honest communication. There are so many components that demonstrate Leavy''s expertise in explicitly and implicitly drawing out the truths at the heart of humanity in today''s world in ways we can all relate to, while creating a story that feels incredibly intimate. The reason I keep returning to her work is her talent for writing stories for multiple audiences at multiple levels with a story engaging enough to be an easy read, no matter the intent behind picking it up. In this way, this might be the first novel I have read that is filled with a truly diverse range of images of masculinity, so much so that it becomes essential supplementary reading in any class, especially those focused on gender, masculinity, or trauma, as well as broad fields like sociology, social work, and communication. But at its heart, Leavy''s third part of Tess and Jack''s story is a novel that must be read because it''s too good not to." - U.
Melissa Anyiwo, Ph.D., Curry College, editor of Gender Warriors: Reading Contemporary Urban Fantasy "In the third Tess Lee novel, we see how love is a selfless and self-full act that burns the brightest when we follow our inner light and project that outward. Like the constellations, Tess and Jack show us how love may seem like a random group of stars until it transforms us into the crucial link in a connected pattern of love-filled relationships." - Sandra L. Faulkner, Ph.D., author of Poetic Inquiry: Craft, Method and Practice "Understanding our feelings can often feel like an extended process of stargazing.
With Constellations , Patricia Leavy explores this metaphor in family relationships. This follow-up to Shooting Stars and Twinkle takes a subtler approach than either of its predecessors, turning away from high drama to long strings of quietly electric moments that shimmer like holiday lights. Yet, lest we think this novel is the neatly wrapped stuff of made-for-TV movies, it uses the winter holidays to illuminate the thick ice trapping the emotions of trauma survivors. Leavy gives the deepest chills in showing readers how even the most healed of heroes can easily fall prey to toxic patterns, and makes us vibrate with familiar frustration at experiences we likely share. Even with their vast resources and genuine love, Tess Lee and Jack Miller cannot escape the essential truism that survivors with feminine qualities often do the work of ''finishing'' those with masculine ones--until they choose to do it themselves. The lesson here rings all the more clearly for its understated grace: When we consciously make those healing choices to examine and name the complex clusters of simmering energy within us, we come closer to the stars and one another." - Alexandra "Xan" Nowakowski, Ph.D.
, MPH, Florida State University "Especially as someone who has depended upon and often written about the establishment of chosen families, I was even more delighted than usual to reconnect with Tess as she navigates these and other familial themes in Constellations . In fact, my delight expanded with each page of this gripping, emotional, at times humorous, and loving story about the complexity that we call love and the possibilities for building love and connection with the self and others over time. Constellations is truly a wonderful complement to Shooting Stars and Twinkle , as well as a beautiful introspective love story in its own right!" - J. E. Sumerau, Ph.D., The University of Tampa " Constellations is a book about connections, relationships, and the logic of finding patterns in the seemingly random. In this latest work by masterful writer Patricia Leavy, we again reacquaint ourselves with the cast of characters in these stellar stories.
Once more, I eagerly sat down to join Tess, Jack, and their coterie of fine friends and loved ones. I eagerly read Leavy''s tale of love and family that teaches us the importance of leaning into the love of those who care for you the most. Tess''s sparkling literary career is topped only by her grace and deep emotional wisdom, her kindness and spectacular global reach. Tess''s stories are alive with light, emerging from the darkness of human experience; they tell of pain and bitter experience redeemed, humanity and grace. An important lesson from Tess''s writing (and by extension, Leavy''s) is that the way we treat others is who we become, a lesson never more important than in these trying, turbulent, frightening, and divisive times. In the primary relationship of this series, that of Tess and her husband Jack, we learn the transformational power of love, of unconditional love. This is a relationship we all aspire to have: one of unconditional and steady devotion. Both Tess and Jack have experienced and survived deep, indescribable pain and loss in their lives.
They have both had a life of seeking without realizing, existing without living--despite the important and satisfying work they both do very successfully. Their love, as a consequence, is deep and unrelenting, and Leavy''s portrayal is sensitive and authentic; their relationship is beautifully drawn. Symbolism and metaphor are powerfully employed in this book, the notion of a constellation reflected in the strong web of ties between dear friends, cherished family, and our beloveds. The pain Leavy writes about is, as she says herself, ''laced with infinite hope.'' The epilogue of this beautiful book brought me to tears, so poignant in its portrayal of an authentic marriage of mutual support, of its flaws and successes, of the trust in the one you love the most who can t.