The Underside of Joy - Sere Prince Halverson (2012)

Three years ago Ella's life changed when she passed through a small northern Californian town called Elbow. She met Joe and became stepmum to his two young children, Annie and Zach. But when Joe drowns, his ex-wife Paige turns up at the funeral, with plans to reclaim the children that she abandoned years earlier and take them to live with her in Las Vegas. As Ella works to save Joe's family business, she has to prove that the children are best left with the only mother they've known. But maybe Joe hasn't been completely honest with her. This is a poignant and beautifully written story about the sacrifices mothers make in a custody battle with a difference.

Sere Prince Halverson's debut The Underside of Joy tells the story of two women who each seek custody of the same children. The summary says: "Ella counts as her blessings her wonderful husband, two animated kids and an extended family who regard her as one of their own. Yet when her soulmate Joe tragically drowns, her life is turned upside down without warning, and she finds that the luck, which she had thought would last forever, has run out. When Joe's beautiful ex-wife, who deserted their children three years earlier, arrives at the funeral, Ella fears the worst. And she may well be right to. Ella discovers she must struggle with her own grief, while battling to remain with the children and the life which she loves. Questioning her own role as a mother, and trying to do what is right, all she is sure of is that she needs her family to make it through each day. Yet when pushed to the limits of love, Ella must decide whether she is, after all, the best mother for her children." The Underside of Joy is out in February. Halverson is a Californian copywriter.

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