The Scent of Color

Deidre Sinclair is rich, beautiful, smart, and going blind. Hired to take her on a world tour is Remi Lamont, a reluctant battle-weary ex-Marine turned wildlife photographer. As she tries to accept her own fate, she catches glimpses into Remi's tortured mind. Eventually his PTSD and her undisclosed impairment not only threaten to derail their trip and their relationship, but ultimately threaten to take the life of one or both of them.

Deidre persuades her best friend, Cassandra, to spend the summer break touring with her. Under Remi's guidance, the girls learn to see the world through a photographer's discerning eye, as they become enthralled with the wonders of Europe: from Cinque Terre to the French Riviera to the lavender fields of Provence. Every region is more wonderful than the last. But after the comfortable travel among societies similar to their own, their itinerary takes them further east to Egypt and Turkey, where sometimes these more exotic cultures clash with their western values.

For Remi, too, the Middle Eastern countries prove to be much more challenging than he expected, igniting memories he has fought so hard to suppress. Since his days in the Marine Corps, anger, to varying degrees, has become Remi's go-to emotion. Readers of the novel gradually see the toll Remi's combat experiences have taken on him and his struggle to cope in civilian life where "he no longer understands a language he once knew."

As Deidre tries to come to grips with her own bleak future she is hampered by her decision to keep her encroaching blindness a secret. Because the diagnosis is so new and she doesn't know yet how to deal with pity, she chooses to hide her condition from Remi. Consequently, when they are not dealing with the unexpected challenges that their travel brings, Remi and Deidre are faced with the complexity of their evolving relationship.

It is a novel about crisis and coping, handicaps and healing, as a beautiful and exciting and sometimes dangerous world unfolds before them.