Sandra Griffith joins the Author Spotlight this week to chat about her debut novel, One Beautiful Year of Normal
Author Name: Sandra Griffith
Book Title: One Beautiful Year of Normal
Book Genre: thriller
Release Date: 2/24/26
Publisher: She Writes Press
Welcome, Sandra! How would you describe One Beautiful Year of Normal?
One Beautiful Year of Normal is the story of a woman whose life was drastically altered by a collision of circumstances and events, including the unsolved murder of her father when she was eight years old, a misinterpretation of something she saw that night, the onset of her mother’s severe, debilitating mental illness, an isolated, chaotic upbringing, and a series of lies and secrets from those around her that ultimately steer all her major life decisions.
What sparked the idea for this book?
When I was a psychology graduate student back in the early ’90s and considering switching my major because I also wanted to write fiction, I discovered Jonathan Kellerman novels. Like the character in his novels, Kellerman is a psychologist, and his books made me realize I didn’t have to choose one profession or the other because it was possible to combine the two things I loved. I’m just sorry it took me so long to do it!
Why drew you to a psychological thriller?
They say to write what you know, and I’ve been a psychologist for over thirty years with a very busy practice that has primarily focused on children and adults who experience severe difficulties, some of which present in very unusual ways. The mother-daughter relationship in One Beautiful Year of Normal was shaped by this.
Are you working on a new project?
I just finished my second novel and hope to have the edit complete by spring. It has a faster pace than One Beautiful Year of Normal but is similar.
Any words of wisdom you would give your pre-published writer self (or a new writer)?
Be prepared to throw out everything you have written and start all over!
Go into it knowing it is not a fast, easy process.
No one likes criticism, but no one learns or grows without it.
Read a lot of similar books to what you’re writing. It helps spur creativity and helps you learn the basic mechanics of writing.
Where can readers find you?
Sandrakgriffith.com
Griffithauthor.com
Thank you, Sandra! One Beautiful Year of Normal is out TODAY.
One Beautiful Year of Normal
When August Caine receives a phone call from a Savannah attorney, she is blindsided by the news—her Aunt Helen has passed away. But how can that be, when August’s mother insisted Helen died in a car accident fifteen years ago? Determined to uncover the truth, August returns to the deep South, where the ghosts of her past—both real and imagined—await her.
Plagued by a memory splintered by her father’s unsolved murder when she was a child and further tangled by psychiatric treatments for the debilitating depression she struggles with, August realizes her survival depends on unraveling the mystery surrounding her father’s death. This means returning to the one safe place she remembers from the childhood she has mostly locked away inside her mind: Aunt Helen’s home, and the ghost tours they created together.
A chilling exploration of mental illness, mother-daughter bonds, and generational secrets, One Beautiful Year of Normal follows August as she pieces together the long-buried truths that shaped her family’s tragic past and confronts the question that has haunted her for years: Can the truth set her free, or will it unravel everything she thought she knew?
Author Bio:
Sandra K. Griffith is a doctorate-level psychologist with extensive clinical and forensic experience, the owner of a behavioral health agency, and an adjunct instructor at Marshall University. Her expertise in mental health, trauma, and the complexities of memory informs her deeply psychological and atmospheric storytelling. When she’s not writing, she enjoys traveling, antiquing, cooking and spending time with her family, friends, and too large collection of pets. She splits her time between Kenova, West Virginia and Tybee Island, Georgia, just outside of Savannah.