Gina Sorell
@ginasorell
Gina Sorell is a writer, actor and creative director who was born in South Africa and now lives in Toronto with her family. After two decades as a working actor, including 10 years in Los Angeles, she returned to her first love, writing, graduating with distinction from the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Sorell pairs her novel-writing with her work as the creative director of Eat My Words, a San Francisco-based branding firm.
Mothers and Other Strangers
When Elsie Robins learns of the death of her estranged mother, she’s flooded with a mix of emotions: surprise, as she didn’t know her mother was even sick; relief for the end of a troubled, difficult relationship; and sadness for never getting the chance at reconciliation or truth. As she travels back to her hometown of Toronto she hopes that in death, her mother can help her to fill the missing pieces that made her feel unrooted her whole life. But upon arrival she discovers that her mother wasn’t who she claimed to be. And when her mother’s apartment is ransacked, Elsie realizes that she is not the only one looking for answers.
While dealing with threats she suspects are coming from the secretive spiritual group her mother belonged to, Elsie sets out to understand who her mother was, and in turn, she’s forced to face herself. Her journey eventually takes her to the South African homestead she never knew existed, uncovering how it all began, and what her mother was running from. A gripping and affecting portrait of family, identity, and of how far we will go for a sense of belonging, Mothers and Other Strangers is a debut not to be missed.