Named a quarter-finalist in The Booklife Prize 2017 Contest (under original title of The Art of Healing)!

...This satisfying novel has a traditional romance plot, but infuses it with a depth and introspection that keeps the story fresh. No space is wasted on tangents, and the plot comes to a gratifying climax. - The Booklife Prize 2017

When everything falls apart, Julianne must embark on a journey of the heart and soul …

Julianne Garvoli is content with her life as a pediatric nurse at a major metropolitan hospital. She is following her every dream, or so she believes. After her idyllic world is shattered, she must reconcile her lost past to rediscover her deepest passion.

Jokob O'Callaghan, a world-renowned photographer, lives a life most could only imagine with his life-love, Keara—until cancer delivers a direct and devastating slam. He walls himself off, focusing solely on his art.

When one of Jokob’s photos brings them together, even love may not be enough to keep them that way. Tragic circumstances and long silent dreams work to sever their bond. Can they each find a way to heal, love, and follow dreams together?

This is not an easy book to read, however it’s an eye-opening dive—from the viewpoint of a dual victim—into how child abuse still pervades society and is passed from parent to child, often for generations before someone finally finds a way out. Jean Felfe was both—abused (physically and psychologically), and an abuser (psychologically). She found a way out of the cycle, but not until she entered college in her early 40s and attended a lecture on child abuse. This moment of realization set Jean on a course of self-recovery and a quest to help others that led her to write this book and to form a chapter of Parents Anonymous® in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1975. She also served on the Texas Parents Anonymous® board.

Born in Ross City, Texas in 1933, Jean’s writing career spanned decades and produced volumes of articles mostly published in small newspapers throughout Texas. A Cry of Pain, An Autobiographical Docudrama on Child Abuse won a Golden Pen award in 1980. Her passion was the prevention of child abuse and she spent much of her adult life writing and speaking on this topic.

Jean passed away in 2012 without realizing her dream of publishing her life’s work. Her daughter, Jeanne Felfe, preserved the manuscript when Jean threatened to “burn it all” in a suicidal rage after a literary agent told her that “wanting to prevent child abuse was a poor reason for writing a book.” Jeanne stored the book for over forty years, moving it from one home to the next, until finally, in 2021, she began the painstaking process of transferring the typed pages into digital form, editing, and preparing it for publication.

I Want to Live! is a labor of love from both mother and daughter. We hope it helps someone find their way beyond the cycle. There is a way out. A portion of each book sold will be donated to Parents Anonymous®.