Petra, a young career woman, suddenly and inexplicably finds herself in the midst of an early “midlife” crisis, ending her eight-year relationship and losing her mojo at her dream job as a book editor.

Woven together is present day third-person narrative and first person memories, dreams, and journaling, Something Not Broken gives readers the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with Petra’s inner life, while challenging them to unwrap the mysteries of the past that shaped her, much as Petra herself is doing. We all go on the journey with her. These characters are all flawed, and searching for, or at least desiring something else, and yet on the surface, they have everything. The author hopes this story will emotionally resonate with readers long after they have forgotten the words. Her wish is that they’ll be less critical of themselves and others, aiming to understand before judging.

About the Author

Marissa Dara Foster started writing short stories and poems when she was eight years old and has loved writing ever since. Foster looks for any reason to string together written words: Christmas cards, journal writing, a screenplay, letters to loved ones, prayer requests. She even turned a college job as a minute’s taker for an academic panel into an excuse to write beautiful, flowery prose. Foster’s professorial mentor was impressed, and a little confused, to see the sometimes dry meeting notes imbued with a gothic Wuthering Heights sensibility. For all her creativity, Foster has also always excelled in math and science. So, she started Harvard as a premed student, but soon got dreamily distracted by romantic courses about Greek heroes and Grimm’s Fairy tales and Vampires. (“okay, that last one was an independent study I created for myself because the Witches, Werewolves, and Ouija Board class only took twelve people.”) That’s the truth by the way! Working in a skilled nursing facility as a recreational therapist after graduation, Foster was led back to her dream of being a medical doctor. The author explains, “I opted for an extra year of medical school so that I could also get a Master of Science degree, and have the opportunity to…you guessed it…research and write a thesis. An almost fatal illness derailed my residency in Pathology at Yale during my first year there, and recent years have brought me the sudden deaths of both my parents, my high school best friend, and someone I had considered to be the love of my life. Depression and anxiety colored many of these years for me, and I felt adrift, with no purpose and no safety net. I still had family and friends, but sometimes the magnitude of my losses didn’t allow me to see anything beyond that. And yet, here I am today, watching this labor of love, my book, begin the process of becoming a concrete reality for people besides myself. I am excited, no matter what happens, and yet I am expecting something amazing. I’ve lived through Hell and back, back and forth a couple of times, but I always had my relationship with God prompting me to move forward, to show my warmhearted, super loving parents, Maurice and Carole, that their baby is just fine. (I love you both. Thanks for loving me, Mom and Dad.) This book, and Petra in particular, is infused with all the love, pain, craziness, despair, happiness, anger, loss, enjoyment, sadness, disappointment, ambition, excitement, passion, rejection, and faith that my parents flawed but unconditional love allowed me to experience and survive. Take this book home with you. You might read it in one day or over the course of a few months, but even as the last word crosses unspoken over your lips, you’ll find this book is one that stays open for you long after you close it.” Other things Foster loves include cooking, making homemade liqueur, weekend excursions and daytrips, wine tasting, crystals, fudge, blown glass, praying in empty churches, especially small chapels with stained-glass windows, reading, tennis, walking, “thinking about my twin flame, starting my day with coffee and chatting with Jesus Christ.”