Going Home with a Cat and a Ghost

Publisher Marketing: GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST is a fictional novel about life's complexities for Judy Howard: Liberated enough to drive forward in her RV, yet still imprisoned by her 40 year old past when she was drugged, raped, and had an illegal abortion. Judy Howard, a typical sixteen year old growing up in the Midwest in 1965, is naive and shy, with a crush on the high school's "James Dean bad boy" named Brad. As Judy and Brad flirt with their desires for one another, life is easy, until Judy is drugged and date raped on a Saturday night in the roller rink parking lot. Her Bad Boy crush, Brad, rescues her after the crime and arranges for an illegal abortion. The results changed their lives forever. The drug preventing Judy from knowing her attacker causes her to live in fear. The guilt of the abortion drives her to accept a college offer in California. Judy flees to the west coast in an attempt to escape her shame, guilt and fear, but is unable to leave her nightmares and regrets in Illinois. She marries and makes a life for herself for forty years but is haunted by memories of Brad, nightmares of the rape and constant regrets, and questions of "What if..?" The opportunity to confront her lifelong question of "What if..?" arises when her husband dies and Brad invites her to their 40th high school reunion. Gathering up her shaky courage, Judy heads home to face her past...and who knows? - Her future? She makes the trip in her motorhome, she's named The Wizard of Winnebago, and is accompanied by her cat named Sportster, and a life-sized doll she calls Cowboy Jack. The odyssey is a discovery of Route 66 but also a deep examination of her feelings and about the woman she has become since she snuggled in the backseat of Brad's 57 Chevy. Brad has lived the last four decades married only to the police force, obsessed with investigating and capturing the biggest drug dealer in the Midwest, called Pit Bull. Brad, too, has lived his life with regrets and guilt, always tortured with his own "What ifs?" When he invites Judy to the reunion his mind is made up. He will not waste another moment wondering. He is going to pursue the love of his life and end his doubts. As Judy progresses toward Springfield and Brad nears closing the biggest case of his career, they are both confronted with the past when Pit Bull threatens to put an end, not only to the mysteries of the past, but Brad and Judy's future. BACK COVER TEXT: In this mystery-romance, Judy Howard ( who shares her name with the author) drives alone on a journey into her past, encountering the ghosts of her teenage years when she was drugged, raped, and had an illegal abortion. She discovers the ruins of Rt. 66 as she travels alone in her motorhome with her cat Sportster and a life-sized, stuffed doll named Cowboy Jack. Will she also discover who was responsible for raping her forty years ago? Will her attacker pay for his crime four decades later? And will she find the love she lost 40 years ago? As a widowed baby boomer, Judy Howard approaches her tortured past, her old high school crush, and her 40th high school reunion. She reaches out for what seems impossible. Will she find justice... and love? The author, Judy Howard has crossed over from the reality of her first book, COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST, and driven into a fictional world of mystery and romance. GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST will have the reader and the fictional character, Judy Howard, clutching the steering wheel with white knuckles. The real Judy Howard resides in Sun City, California with her cat Sportster when they are not touring the country in her motorhome. Howard is currently, working on her third book, INVISIBLE HEROES." Contributor Bio:  Howard, Judy A touching, poignant, and empowering journey of discovery-and self-discovery, Howard's debut is full of surprises and universal truths. From a sobering accounting of death to the fear and unsettling circumstance of leaving everything familiar behind to the challenge of crossing Lake Pontchartrain, dealing with the spirit of Jack, and seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, this middle-aged bildungsroman clarifies for Howard her life's path. In the end she comes to terms with her deep love for Jack despite the abuse that was a part of their relationship, emerging stronger and well-defined. Weaving an emotionally charged narrative with humorous anecdotes and a unique perspective on life, Howard's odyssey is full of heart and a budding fearlessness. Powerfully written and eloquently understated, Coast to Coast with a Cat and a Ghost is the most surprising and satisfying memoir in recent memory. Judy Howard started grooming dogs in her parents' basement at the age of eleven and has continued that work ever since. She was inspired after the death of her husband to pursue writing, something she had always wanted to try. Coast to Coast with a Cat and a Ghost is her first novel. Howard resides in Sun City, California.