Bookworms are loving the adventures of Therese Sands.
Debbie Sands has earned the number-one spot on the Calgary Herald's list of Calgary bestsellers with her book Tropical Rose.
"We were at a book signing at a local book store in Calgary when a couple of our friends came in and showed us that we had made that list. So that was very unexpected but very exciting," said Sands.
Tropical Rose chronicles Sands' grandmother Therese, who lived an extraordinary life, including crossing the globe and serving in the Second World War.
"My grandmother lived on a French island, very wealthy, she had servants," said Sands. "One day she met an English soldier and he brought her over to foggy, cold England. She had no servants and had to be very resilient.
"She did some kind of war work. We have no idea what it was but she received a letter from the French president at the time thanking her for her service."
With no details on what happened during the war, Sands used her imagination and historical knowledge to come up with what her globetrotting grandmother might have done to earn such high praise during the war.
"It starts off as a romance and becomes an adventure," said Sands.
This is the Okotoks author's second published book, her first being A Moth to a Flame. That 2016 book covers her daughter, who struggled with mental illness before her murder in 2012.
Sands has focused her writing on family, but said if she writes another book she will deviate from that and tackle another subject.
"People have some curiosity to learn more about our family members," said Sands. "We've been living here since 1985, going on 40 years now. We're quite active in the local theatre group. My husband (Ed) was part of council for 26 years. We're fairly well-known to people in town."
Sands has numerous book signings coming up in Calgary, with the next one scheduled for Saturday, March 9 at Indigo South Trail, and is planning to host one in Okotoks.
