Gulf Pine Catholic

8 Gulf Pine Catholic • March 6, 2020 Johnnie Bernhard touches on issues of faith and family in latest novel BY TERRY DICKSON BILOXI -- A local author has just finished her third novel. Johnnie Bernhard’s Sisters of the Undertow , pub- lished on Valentine’s Day, comes on the heels of two previous books: A Good Girl and How We Came to Be . In the book, published by Texas Review Press , sis- ters Kim and Kathy Hodges are born 16 months apart in a middle-class existence, parented by Linda and David Hodges of Houston, Texas. The happy couple welcomes their “lucky daughter” Kim, who is physi- cally and mentally advanced. Following several mis- carriages, Linda delivers “unlucky” Kathy at twenty- nine weeks, ensuring a life of cognitive and physical disabilities. Kathy enters public school as a special education student, while Kim is recognized as gifted. Both sisters face life and death decisions as Houston is caught in the rip current of Hurricane Harvey. Kim learns the capricious nature of luck, while Kathy con- tinues to make her own luck, surviving Hurricane Harvey, as she has survived all undertows with the ethereal courage of the resolute. Sisters of the Undertow examines the connotations of lucky and unlucky, the complexities of sibling rival- ry, and the hand fate delivers without reason. Bernhard, who is a member of St. Alphonsus Parish in Ocean Springs, recently talked about how her newest book came to be. Since A Good Girl was published in 2017, Bernhard said she has been fortunate to have the support of the local public library system in many states, particularly in Mississippi. “One of my first events as an author was at the Biloxi Library,” Bernhard said. “The librarian was wonderful, and had prepared drinks and cookies for the patrons. I had set up a table and was going to give a talk. “I had no reference point for this because it was my first book, so, when a door came open, I walked through it,” she continued. “It was a Saturday morning and, as I watched the patrons come in, I realized after a little bit of discernment that most of the patrons were homeless.” As she gave her talk, Bernhard also noticed two girls of early elementary age who were with their mom who was wearing a very provocative dress. “As I sat there, I was thinking, ‘This isn’t what I thought it was going to be, so why am I here? I’m never going to sell any books,’” said Bernhard, referring to the composition of her audience. “So, I decided that I was supposed to be there to read to the homeless and that’s what I did. I realized that the role of the librarian has changed greatly because society has changed greatly. The library is a place in urban areas that offers bathroom facilities, water, a climate-controlled environment and the Internet. That experience helped me develop the pro- tagonist of this story. She’s a librarian working in a downtown library,” Bernhard’s second source of inspiration came from the CBS Morning Show . “The segment was on the wife of a very famous NFL player who could not conceive, and I thought about the paradox of that. A football player is the epit- ome of perfect physical health. I was looking at this woman who was attractive and appeared to be in shape, but her body was rejecting something we take for granted every day,” said Bernhard. “I followed her story and I was very moved by her grief. That made me want to look into the process of infertility and what many couples go through. I was very moved by that.” That experience helped Bernhard develop another of the book’s characters. “A woman, a very, very faithful Catholic mother. This was in the 70s. She loves her husband but, unfor- tunately, suffers miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage,” Bernhard said. “The first daughter is eventually born and is very healthy. The second daughter comes 29 weeks prema- ture. At that time, what medicine could do for a preemie is not what it can do today. Again, I’m very interested in paradox. When what we expect isn’t what we’re given, how do we live with it? Our faith helps us with that. “That’s why you have two sisters -- one that’s beau- tiful and gifted and rejects her faith, and one who is a preemie with many health issues, but remains very faithful. “It’s a story of relationship. It’s a story of faith. It’s the story of what happens in a family when they become divided over issues of faith. I think that’s very relative today in the Church. It’s also about how society has changed and how we, as Christians, are supposed to relate to the homeless.” Like her previous novels, Sisters of the Undertow also touches upon the experience of immigrants in America. This novel touches on the experience of immigrants in the Middle East. “I would never want to insult the reader by telling them what they should think,” said Bernhard. “All I do is present the situation and I invite them to think for themselves.” A former teacher and journalist, Bernhard’s work has appeared in University of Michigan Graduate Studies Publications , Heart of Ann Arbor Magazine , Houston Style Magazine , Southern Writers Magazine , The Texas Review , and Southern Literary Review . She is the author of the novels A Good Girl and How We Came to Be . Bernhard will sign copies of Sisters of the Undertow at St. Alphonsus Parish’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help Book Store on Sunday, March 22, at 12:30 p.m. It is also available at Amazon , Barnes & Noble , Target , and independent bookstores. For more information, visit www.johnniebernhardauthor.com . Bernhard Pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, to the diaconate, and to the religious life, especially in the Diocese of Biloxi