My emotional thriller Jesse’s Girl was originally published in 2009. My son, my only child, was battling substance abuse. I wrote Jesse’s Girl by fictionalizing his story, putting the emotions into a creative food processor. That’s always a dilemma for writers when basing stories on real events because there are stanchions all around reminding you well, it didn’t really happen this way. It’s important to step back from that, which gives you more freedom to create a new world. On the other hand – isn’t there always the other hand – you can’t step back too far without losing the power of the emotions. It’s sort of like flying through a storm. Even though I made up the story Jesses Girl inspired by truth, there were many tears.
Anyway, I asked my son to read the book, hoping that by seeing what he was doing to his family and especially to himself, it would motivate him to get clean. It didn’t work. He never read the novel. A few years later, he passed from substance abuse at 22. I put Jesse’s Girl in an emotional vault until a friend whose opinion I respect read Jesse’s Girl. She insisted I revisit the novel and do something with it because “these characters are more real than most of the people I know.” I took some deep breaths and did numerous drafts, digging deeper into the characters and plot, polishing and updating to bring out this new edition which I hope will touch and perhaps help people struggling with those they love. At the end we writers must offer a way forward for the reader. As Rabbi Shneur Zalman said, “A little light dispels a lot of darkness”.
Teddy Mentor finally thought his troubled teenage son was safe. No more drugs. No more police. No more fear. Only guilt. Then came the midnight call from the wilderness program. Jesse had run away.
But what can Teddy do? Risk his shaky job and head to Montana to search for Jesse? Let the authorities handle this. They know what they’re doing. That’s why Teddy sent Jesse away. Because he already failed. No. Teddy can’t jeopardize what little he has left for the adopted son who said Teddy wasn’t his real father. But Teddy is a parent. A single parent. And Jesse is all he has left.
The novel asks the question how much should a parent sacrifice for their child? In Jesse’s Girl, the answer is: Everything.
Including Jesse’s Girl, Morgenstein’s seven novels include the critically acclaimed trilogy The Dark Depths comprised of A Mound Over Hell, A Fastball for Freedom and A Dugout to Peace, which begins in 2098 after America and the West have lost World War Three to the Islamic Empire and baseball begins its final season at Amazon Stadium.
Morgenstein’s stage dramas, which have been performed all over the country, include A Black and White Cookie, A Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx, Dancing on Glass, Walking Charlie, The Silence of Our Friends and the bi-partisan political satire AOC and the Untold Story of the 2028 Election.
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