Love at the Speed of Email

A dear friend of mine, Lisa McKay, has just had the exciting honor of welcoming her second book baby into the world, a memoir - Love At The Speed of Email.

I worked with Lisa during our time living in Los Angeles, California. Lisa was the Director of Training and Education Services at the Headington Institute and when I first started volunteering at the Institute Lisa was just publishing her first book baby, My Hands Came Away Red to much acclaim. In fact, My Hands Came Away Red was nominated as a finalist in the 2008 Christy Awards (the Golden Globes of Christian fiction writing). If you haven't read it, you should!

Lisa was a huge support during my first months in a new city she was full of understanding and knowledge of what it was like uprooting to a new place having already lived in 8 different countries. Lisa became an inspiring colleague, and a close friend during my 2+ years in Los Angeles.

A little about Lisa:

A nomadic childhood - Australia, Bangladesh, USA, Zimbabwe.
Dual citizenship - Australian and Canadian.
An international adulthood - Australia, The Philippines, Croatia, Los Angeles, Laos.
An Australian masters in forensic psychology and work in a maximum security men's prison and on a child death review team.
A masters degree in International Peace Studies from Notre Dame University, Idiana.
Work as a stress management trainer in Croatia for a development organization.
7 years as the director of the Headington Institute's training and education programs, providing psychology support services to humanitarian workers around the world.
Author of 2 diverse and awesome books.
Wife to a handsome humanitarian worker, Mike.
Mother to adorable 9 month old, Dominic.
And that is just the synopsis. Lisa writes a fantastic blog about her life: in Laos; as a mother and wife; as a writer; a psychologist; a humanitarian worker. You should pop over and have a read. It is well worth the time. Funny, inspiring, insightful and generally awesome.

So what is this novel about?

Lisa describes the novel as:
"...the story of an old-fashioned courtship made possible by modern technology.
...it’s a grand love story with a happy ending, and everyone loves those. Also, it will make you laugh and make you think."


The back cover reads:
"Lisa looks as if she has it made. 
She has turned her nomadic childhood and forensic psychology training into a successful career as a stress management trainer for humanitarian aid workers. She lives in Los Angeles, travels the world, and her first novel has just been published to some acclaim. But as she turns 31, Lisa realizes that she is still single, constantly on airplanes, and increasingly wondering where home is and what it really means to commit to a person, place, or career. When an intriguing stranger living on the other side of the world emails her out of the blue, she must decide whether she will risk trying to answer those questions. 
Her decision will change her life."

What other's are saying about the book:

"...part grand romance, part travel memoir and part essay on life’s most precious gifts...”
- Susan Meissner, award-winning author of The Shape of Mercy and A Sound Among the Trees


“...[an] engrossing memoir about life and love and home, is a wild ride that spans the globe. At turns funny, contemplative, and romantic, ... [a] modern day fairy tale.”
- Nicole Baart, best-selling author of Far From Here and After the Leaves Fall


“A travel memoir with a deep soul, Love at the Speed of Email takes us around the world but always brings us back to the heart of the matter: humanity’s longing for place, purpose, faith.”
- Leeana Tankersley, author of Found Art: Discovering Beauty in Foreign Places


“...a riveting memoir by a talented author and globe-trotter [seeking] the love of her life and a place to call home.”
- Gina Holmes, award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain

Where can you buy Love At The Speed of Email?

Amazon on Kindle ($9.99) or Paperback ($12.95)
Createspace Paperback ($12.95)
Barnes & Noble

Other Reasons to Buy Love At The Speed of Email:

1. A portion of Lisa's profits on this book will be going to support two charities in Laos: Pencils of Promiseand the Luang Prabang Boat Library. Pencils of Promise builds schools and trains teachers. The Library Boat carries books up and down the Mekong to villages that can only be accessed by boat.
2. Lisa is running a launch giveaway! "I wanted to run a giveaway to celebrate the book launch, but sending signed copies of the book from Laos is more than a little impractical. Luckily I have another great option – one that supports the local economy and is even more beautiful than my book. Visit the launch blog post before July 13 to learn how you can enter to win a gorgeous silk scarf from the night market here in Luang Prabang."

Book Club

I have nominated Love At The Speed of Email as our next book for book club. We have so far read a diverse range of books including Jane Austen's Emma, Kathryn Stockett's The Help, Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, and E L James' Fifty Shades of Grey. Book club usually consists of a casual dinner, some yummy wine and discussion - sometimes about the book and sometimes about life. I am looking forward to our next meeting in August when we discuss Love At The Speed of Email. Lisa has provided topics and questions for discussion about the book centering around home, travel, love, faith, hope and passion. 


I am just a couple of chapters into the book and already having to drag myself away from it to attend to my children - a sure sign of a great story. I find it riveting despite the fact that I was working with Lisa very closely at the time that many of the events in the book unfolded. I know the ending. I even talked with Lisa over tea and coffee and lunch breaks about the unusual proposition she received via email from a man half a world away that they should start dating. It's a little like "reading [Lisa's] diary" (as her grandmother commented). But it truly is a modern-day fairy-tale. And who doesn't love that!?


Check back in August to hear how our book club discussions went regarding Love At The Speed of Email! In the meantime go and buy her book!