It was my first book, and I found out that publishers were looking for a book just like the one I was pitching to them. 

Unfortunately, that was not the book I had written. 

So I had to tear it all down and start again . . . and that’s when it really came to life. After more than a year of hammer-and-tongs revision—rebuilding from the ground up, actually—I got an offer and became a published author. 

I have not made enough money to retire and move to Beverly Hills . . . but I do sell a few copies of The Price of Passage. Mostly, I sell them face-to-face, to folks looking for a good read from an author they trust. Many of these sales are very gratifying, in terms of new friends made. 

Sometimes, I get feedback, and when I do, it really makes my day. Here’s a recent email from Lisa Tareski, used here with her express permission:

Dear Mr. Sommers,

I purchased your book on Saturday at the Book Fair in Middleton. I started reading that night and couldn’t put it down, it was so enjoyable. Reading about Anders and Maria made me think about my great great grandparents, who also emigrated from Norway around that time. I wondered and hoped they would have acted the same if they had experienced what Anders did.  

Your story pulled me in, and made me feel like I was there, seeing and feeling everything the characters saw and felt.  I have not read anything in so long that has made me care so much. 

I know your book is fiction, but I was still thrilled that Daniel literally and figuratively became a “Free Man.”

I think if my grandfather was still alive, he would have loved your book. I had initially bought it for my mom, but I’m going to order one for my aunt and another for my uncle. 

Thank you so much for writing such a beautiful story. You have both entertained and inspired me. 

Very truly yours,

Lisa Tareski 

Messages like that make an old author’s heart sing. They make me remember why I went to the trouble of completely remaking a book I thought I had already written. 

You might enjoy The Price of Passage, too. It’s about the yearning for freedom.

Our society—America—is, quite famously, all about freedom. But there are lots of versions of what freedom means.

So I wrote this novel, in which a couple of Norwegian immigrants, Anders and Maria, strive to get free of the constraints of life in the Old World. And when they free themselves by coming to the New World, they encounter a man, Daniel, who needs to get out of the literal chains of slavery. They have to decide how much of their own new-found freedom they will hazard to help somebody else seeking freedom, too. 

Everybody in this story is going through a passage, from bondage to freedom, and they pay the price of passage in all kinds of ways. And that’s the story.

It’s available in paperback or hardcover, of course at Amazon, but you can also get it directly from the publisher, Three Towers Press.

And when you find yourself bowled over by the wonderfulness of the story, feel free to drop me a line. 

Blessings,

Larry F. Sommers

Your New Favorite Writer