STAND A LITTLE OUT OF MY SUN is a multicultural novel exploring the timeless issues of love, coming of age, the power of forgiveness, and the ties that bind families together. It’s the story of Sophie and her family. Sophie’s mother, Christina, joins the Army during WWII and marries Tom Peters, a brilliant, non-Greek soldier without “The Permission” from her parents. Hell breaks loose as Tom’s dispassionate ways collide with the family’s effusive temperaments. Twelve-year-old Sophie is the sole protector of her little brother, Niko, as they are caught in the middle of a cultural mismatch. Between the Greek family with their unleashed passions, a defeated mother and unscrupulous father, Sophie and Niko’s early years are perilous, yet rich. Their grandparents, Yiayia and Papou, are the stakes in the ground for the children. Tom’s genius takes a sinister turn. He draws nine-year-old Niko into his under-the-table car business. The only person who might know why some mobsters and shady Cousin Taki keep coming to the house is Niko’s best friend, Noops, who is unable to talk to anyone. Niko shuts Sophie out, and she can’t bear the way his eyes have begun to get the same hard flash as their father’s. As Niko protects the fragile bond with his father, Sophie digs up clues. Her accusations pierce their father’s conscience, but it’s too late. Violence ensues after he steals money from the mob. A gun-wielding gangster bursts into their garage. Tom throws himself in front of his son as a shield, but a bullet passes through him and kills Niko. A cold, unforgiving wind blows through Sophie’s heart. Yiayia is the glue that holds Sophie and her mother together. Papou visits Tom in prison. Perhaps it is Papou’s astonishing mercy under impossible circumstances or the endurance of family, but every notion Tom has ever conceived becomes subject to a new truth. Tom is forever changed, but Sophie refuses to reconcile. Tom serves out his time in prison, and under the FBI’s umbrella of protection, the family assumes a new identity and moves to Oregon. At age seventeen, Sophie is wrenched from the life she has always known. She befriends a group of black kids, which causes quite a stir as the lines that define the times are crossed. A young man violently attacks Sophie to teach her the rules of racial separation. She fights for her life, and Tom rescues her. Sophie sees her father with new eyes. The young man’s father wants revenge. He uncovers Tom’s shady past and forges a deal with the Chicago underworld to have him killed. In a downtown Portland car chase, Tom’s car plunges into the river. His body is never found. Upon her wedding day, Sophie discovers that her father is alive. He stays in hiding, knowing his family is safe and cared for without him.