Flames Upon the Altar

About the Book

Everyday, each of us presents something of value as an offering in exchange for what he desires or to appease what he fears. LOIS MARIE JABOWSKI is no different. She finds comfort in her daily routine and never questions the world imposed on her. She avoids confrontation, she evades challenge, but mostly she fears change. Only one passion transcends her proscribed existence and that is her devotion to her daughter MARY. Mary embodies everything that her mother lacks. Passion rules Mary’s heart. Yet in the end, it is her passion that causes her undoing. Ultimately, Mary has to relinquish something of value. She too must make a sacrifice. This novel portrays a large Polish Catholic family living in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from the early 1950s to the middle of the 1990s. The people, the time and the place are of an era that, in retrospect, seems to be less complex. In this narrative, these children of the post-World War II Baby Boom Generation grow up in a neighborhood that indulges their preoccupations and their passions. Success follows every attempt. For this reason, the strength that develops from enduring and in overcoming hardship never gets the chance to develop. Lois never learns the skills to adapt to the changes in her life. She faces her greatest challenge unprepared. Her only response is to seek what she perceives as a safe haven from her turmoil. In doing so, Lois makes her final offering.

About the Author

Although she created a work of fiction, Diane Celeste Alexander has drawn upon her experience as a daughter, sister, friend, office worker, cat lover, artist, and, more than anything else, her experience as a woman to create the characters in her novel. The author uses these characters to personify the conflicts of daily life as well as their resolution. Ms. Alexander employs the written word to define herself in her own terms. It is also her hope that she is able to give a voice to those who have not yet learned to appreciate themselves for who they really are.