The Path of Dreams

The Path of Dreams is a romantic fantasy based on the traditional Japanese practice of the arranged marriage. The matchmakers in this case are an Osaka samurai academic and a Scottish Mormon polygamist. The union these two nineteenth century raconteurs plot for their great-great grandchildren is one their descendants never could have anticipated, for this o-miai can only take place on "the path of dreams."

Although they have never met before, a seemingly chance encounter leaves Elaine Chieko Packard and Connor McKenzie haunted by passionate dreams they cannot control. They determine to resolve the growing tension between the moral strictures of their religion and their own overpowering emotions by eloping, a decision that triggers an entirely unexpected series of events.

In the days and months that follow, they find themselves reliving—in dreams and reality—many of the same conflicts their parents and grandparents once did. They come to realize that their lives cannot move forward until they have attended to the unsettled obligations of the past, "turning the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers."

The Kindle and paperback editions can be purchased at Amazon worldwide. The ePub format is available at Apple Books, Google Play, Rakuten Kobo, B & N Nook, Smashwords and many other ebook retailers.

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The Path of Dreams was first published by Parables in 2006, the revised second edition by Peaks Island Press in 2008. An early draft won Honorable Mention in the 2002 Utah Original Writing Competition.