About the Book

While on a Cruise starts with the very moment when the author begins her journey as a writer and finishes with the completion of this as her sixth book. In between these moments are engaging and thought-provoking stories that examine how situations, environments, and relationships shape people and how a person’s attitude and character ultimately shape what they get out of life.
Some of the stories in this collection are based on or inspired by the author’s family tales, childhood memories, and her personal experiences. Others, from the fictional tale of young girls in a Catholic school in Lisbon, to a brother supporting a hypochondriac sister in Montreal, to a married couple in a seniors’ home learning to look forward instead of back, introduce multilayered characters struggling to live the best way they know how and reveal the fascinating stories of everyday people.

About the Author

Maria de Andrade was born in Lisbon, Portugal and uses her memories and knowledge of her homeland in many of her stories. In 1979, she moved to Montreal, Canada, with her husband and young son, where she lived for 35 years before moving to Laval to be closer to her grandchildren.
Maria admits she is an atypical writer in that her mother tongue is Portuguese, yet she writes in English while living in the French-speaking province of Quebec. Yet this mix of different cultures and cadences is part of what makes her writing so refreshingly real and unique. Her other five books are: Memories of Lili, a Beagle's Life(2014), The Little Sect(2015), Cycles(2016),A Patch of Black Ice(2017), and Looking for Daisy(2018).
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