MEADVILLE, PA — Fulton Books announces the
release of Orphan Road: A journey of tragedy and
hope, the debut novel from author Judy Lundquist.
Now available in paperback and digital, this captivating
book introduces readers to Julie Summers, a former
corporate IT professional whose layoff after two decades
in the industry leaves her searching for a new direction in life.
Lundquist, a self-described hopeless romantic, set out to
write a story that blends romance and adventure with a
deeper exploration of grief, guilt, and purpose. The result
is a character-driven, suspense-filled journey where survival,
morality, and consequence are constantly in play.


When Julie loses her IT job after twenty years and moves
in with her adult daughter, she struggles to imagine
what comes next. A whirlwind romance with a younger
man, Chris, offers a welcome distraction, but it is her
long-held dream of volunteering abroad that ultimately
pulls her forward. Julie commits to three months at
an orphanage in the small Colombian village of Bello,
home to children left maimed and orphaned by the
region’s drug wars. There she forms an unlikely bond
with a blind ten-year-old girl and her fiercely protective
younger brother, learns from a village medicine man
carrying his own history of loss, and confronts dangers
she never anticipated — even as complications back
home threaten the relationship she left behind. Her
time in Bello forces her to reckon with old wounds from
her own childhood while learning, slowly, to trust again.

Through emotionally layered storytelling and
suspenseful twists, the novel examines how healing
often arrives in unexpected places and through
unexpected people. With Orphan Road, Lundquist
set out to capture the resilience of the human spirit
and the transformative power of compassion, even
in the face of tragedy. Blending a compelling female
protagonist with inspirational drama and adventure,
the book invites readers to consider what they might
discover about themselves if they had the courage to
step outside their comfort zone. “As I poured my heart
into this story, I hoped to create a work that would
inspire readers and touch their souls,” Lundquist has
said of the novel.