Alternative Ending

Spoiler Alert! Do not proceed before finishing the novel.

Some of my beta readers enjoyed a different ending to the book. I’d love to hear your experience of the original and the alternative below. Send me a note at jlefkoff@gmail.com with your thoughts, ideas, or rants.

What happens for you when replacing Chapter 18 with the following Epilogue?

San Diego, 2012

This is how Jules remembers his time in Miami. This is the story he has told, in pieces over the years, to Isaac, the boy who has delighted in stories since he was a preschooler. It had been Miriam’s idea to name their son after the uncles, all four in one swoop. When their daughter was born two years later, Jules insisted on naming her Clare, after the girl’s grandmother.

Jules thanks God for his children, no matter that their career pursuits mystify him. Isaac is a singer-songwriter who performs on stage with amazing confidence. And Clare is drawn to computer animation, which started as a pre-teen at Jewish summer camp and continues today through her peculiar major at UCLA. How did these young adults, raised by university professors of environmental science, develop such talents? For that matter, how did Jules, once destined to become an accountant in Atlanta married to his high school girlfriend, end up an oceanographer in San Diego with his beloved Miriam? He asks this question only to remind himself of the answer.