Published in February of 2026, One Beautiful Year of Normal is the first novel by Sandra Griffith, a doctorate-level clinical and forensic psychologist.
Griffith is a multihyphenate entrepreneur. She also owns a behavioral health center, a restaurant that she operates with her husband, and a pharmacy. She and her husband have thrived in the community of Kenova, West Virginia, since 1891. At the same time, she’s loved Tybee Island and the Coastal Empire for over 30 years now. Therefore, Griffith splits her time between Tybee and Kenova. The couple also owns The Venue on Tybee. The Venue is a historic home hidden away on a road just beyond the iconic Welcome to Tybee sign. The home hosts weddings, retreats and reunions, among other stylish events.
“I’ve always wanted to live in Savannah. We started coming there in the early 1990s,” she said. “It took me until about three years ago to finally make the move there, but I had just been enthralled with Savannah.”
One Beautiful Year of Normal is equal parts family saga, mystery and psychological thriller.
Set in the Hostess City, the book follows the story of August Caine. Her father’s murder sends her mother into a downward and dysfunctional spiral of severe psychotic mental illness. Little is known about the circumstances of her father’s murder. August, in her quest to uncover the truth, experiences a series of dramatic events. These test familial bonds, unearth generational secrets, and radically challenge everything she thought she once knew.
One Beautiful Year of Normal is a fascinating exploration of the mother-daughter bond. It also delivers a striking portrayal of mental illness, a subject with which Griffith is intimately familiar.
“I’ve worked primarily with severe psychotic disorders and have always been interested in delusional disorders,” she said. “You can talk to someone and they seem completely normal and they can function pretty normally, but then you get to one area that either isn’t possible or probable.”
Griffith’s doctoral dissertation was on the subject of stalking, which arises out of a person’s delusion. Delusion is a key part of August’s mother’s characterization.
“In the case of the mother’s delusion, she thinks that if she speaks, something bad is going to happen, so she stops talking completely,” Griffith explained.
Having received praise from reviewers, One Beautiful Year of Normal is a captivating read.
It’s a tale of found family with a bit of mystery and heart-racing thriller mixed in.
“I joked that if The Secret Life of Bees and Liz Moore’s Long Bright River had a baby, One Beautiful Year of Normal would be something in this category.”
An admittedly slower read with a pace that mimics life in Savannah, this book is the first for Griffith but certainly not the last. She has recently penned a second novel with a faster pace and a nail-biting plot to satisfy readers who enjoy spellbinding page-turners. Information on that novel will follow, but in the meantime, readers can find One Beautiful Year of Normal, distributed by Simon and Shuster, at local bookstores like E. Shaver Booksellers as well as online via big retailers like Books A Million, Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.
Article By Chantel Britton
Learn more about Griffith and order One Beautiful Year of Normal at www.sandrakgriffith.com.
