Beyond My Control
A daughter searching for her past. A love fighting to find its way home.
BY LAVERNE M. CARTWRIGHT
A past that lingers
The choices and tragedies of youth echo across the years.
A name worth finding
A young girl looks beyond the life she knows for answers.
A family reunited
Love is rediscovered, even as new dangers emerge.
Some bonds are stronger than the secrets that divide us.
After surviving a deadly fire, Christina is raised under the cruelty of Aunt Shirley. At sixteen, she escapes and discovers freedom and her first love with John. But circumstances tear them apart.
Years later, Christina and John are brought together again. The possibility that their missing daughter may still be alive leads them toward Leah, a young girl who has placed a notice in the Halifax Chronicle Herald in the hope of finding her birth parents.
Reunion brings a chance at a new life—until old nightmares return and Christina feels the danger of the past closing in again.
The search is, the search for truths, for origin, for roots.
— FROM THE OPENING OF THE NOVEL
Beyond My Control
A richly layered story of family, identity, love and the past that refuses to stay buried.
“I desperately need to find my real mother and/or father.”
A personal advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle Herald becomes a thread connecting the lives of a daughter and the parents she hopes to find.
LaVerne M. Cartwright
Born in the beautiful province of Nova Scotia, LaVerne M. Cartwright is a grandmother, traveller, and independent spirit with a love for art, gardening, and flower arranging.
During a quiet Canadian winter, she found a meaningful creative escape in writing her debut novel. Beyond My Control explores the dramatic journey of a child seeking her birth parents and reflects her belief that life’s journeys are often easier said than done.
“Life is easier said than done.”
The conversation continues beyond the last page.
Reader reviews will be featured here when available. Have you read Beyond My Control? The author would love to hear your thoughts.
Notes, news & reflections
A space for future book updates, author reflections, and new announcements.
Stories behind the story
New articles and updates from LaVerne will appear here when published.
Every family has a story. Some are still waiting to be found.
For book enquiries, reader messages, and author updates, reach out to LaVerne directly by email.
laverne_cartwright@hotmail.com