Kingsville author releases second book

By Mark Ribble

KINGSVILLE — Lynn McLaughlin’s new book ‘Jackson’ has launched on Amazon.ca and other platforms this week and the Kingsville author is happy for the response so far.

Last Wednesday, a Facebook Live virtual launch party saw some 500 people tune in as McLaughlin co-hosted the event with local authors Jenn Sadai and Melissa Lyons.

Jackson is McLaughlin’s second book and it took about a year to write and prepare for publication.

Friesen Press published the book and McLaughlin expected it to be available on Amazon.ca Monday, in hardcover and paperback, with e-book and audiobook soon to follow. The book will also be available at Chapters, Indigo and other bookstores.

LYNN McLAUGHLIN

McLaughlin has been a Kingsville resident for over 20 years and has retired from the Greater Essex County District School Board as a superintendent.

Originally from McGregor, she graduated from Essex High School and was a principal at many area elementary schools, including Margaret D. Bennie Public School in Leamington.

Jackson follows the lives of the principle character, Jackson, and his mother, June, who is desperate to save her son from his mental illness battles and a life of drugs and alcohol. The 25-year-old Jackson gives his perspective in the book as he battles the pitfalls that come with the illness.

Although the book is a fictional story, it’s based on the lives of many different people that McLaughlin has encountered throughout her career. “June tries so hard to save him, much to her own detriment,” says the author. “In the end it’s about hope, love and promise.”

Photos by Ginger Snaps Photography

McLaughlin sees a lot of that hope, love and promise in her weekly podcast ‘Taking the Helm’, which is about people who have experienced trauma in their lives and have been able to turn things around.

Her previous book, ‘Steering Through It’, was an award-winning autobiography about her experience with a life-threatening illness, which she published in 2019.

You can visit her website at www.lynnmclaughlin.com for more information on her books, podcast and other ventures she has going.