Site Fidelity

SITE FIDELITY

   #7 in The Snowy Series

Set in the year 2008


In order to return, Snowy thought, you have to go away. But what if you want to stay away?


Site Fidelity is a contemporary novel centering on the importance of “place” in a turbulent, changing world. The title refers to the ornithological term for birds’ instinctive migration back to their place of origin.


The year is 2008 and the Great Recession is looming, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, and the winter is hard, especially on people who aren’t so young as they used to be.

Twenty-three years ago, Henrietta Snow—known as Snowy—and her husband bought a general store near her hometown in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Ever since his death, she and her daughter, Ruhamah, have been running the store. They recently bought a second general store in a neighboring town, and now Ruhamah wants to acquire a third. Scared, Snowy wonders if Ruhamah wants to rule a general-store empire.

What Snowy wants is another site, a fresh start. She hankers for what she calls a Maine-style Bali Ha’i, an island she has visited with her friend Puddles, where the scenery is “the ever-changing ocean, not the motionless mountains.”

Is this longing for change a part of aging? How can she leave the responsibilities that are tying her down?