Luling author pens first book

Marie Eure Crews recently released her first book, and she said the outpouring of love and support from the community has been overwhelming.

“A lot of effort went into this book, so I hope it makes its way to as many hands as possible,” she said. “My goal is to get the message out about hope – hope for someone to dream of a better life and go get what you want. Ultimately the story is about triumph over tragedy.”

Crews, who was born and raised in Luling by her mother Connie Fontenot Camardelle, said her book “Even When … She Rose” is a memoir of sorts.

“It is based heavily on my life, but there are some fictional elements to it,” she said.

Crews started penning the book in May 2018 and finished this past August. She self-published the product, and it is available for purchase on many websites including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

“It feels pretty amazing to be getting the feedback I’m getting,” Crews said. “It feels like a huge accomplishment. It’s been cathartic to write.”

Crews said she was first inspired to write a story about her life when she was 14.

“What I didn’t know then, was how my life would unfold or that it would be thirty-five years before I would be called to share my truth with the world,” she said. “If this novel brings hope to even one person who is in a difficult season of their life, the pain and process of writing it will have been worth it. It would be even better if it gives someone the courage to keep going and realize they really can overcome anything.”

The book follows the story of Rose, who grew up with an absent father and a single mother who raised four children. Rose was left to essentially raise herself, and she unknowingly repeated her mom’s pattern by marrying young and becoming a divorced, uneducated mother of two. Years later, with a broken marriage in her rearview mirror, Rose finds herself happy and remarried, this time to the man of her dreams. All seems well until she begrudgingly accepts an opportunity to tutor a young mother-to-be. In doing so, Rose unintentionally opens the lid to her own Pandora’s box, which forces her to grapple, once more, with the wounds of her painful past.

Crews, who now works as a certified health and wellness coach and business leader, said her deepest passion is to help other people triumph over life circumstances and create the life of their dreams.