Breaking Through the Fog

Gavin Bennett is a successful prosecutor for the King's County District Attorney's Office in New York who is reunited with his brother, Ethan, after Ethan's wife, Olivia, is in a terrible car accident. Gavin flies to San Francisco to be with his brother, only to find that Ethan's wife is being cared for by his first and only love, Dr. Alexis Patterson. Alexis Patterson is a dedicated neurologist at the cutting edge of traumatic brain injury research. Struggling to move past losing the love of her college sweetheart Gavin, she built a solid career in San Francisco. Despite professional successes, she is not able to fill the void left by Gavin. She is sorting through her tumultuous emotions when Gavin shows up bringing back poignant and painful memories. Gavin's brother Ethan, an established painter in San Francisco, struggles to come to grips with the tragic accident that caused his wife, Olivia, to enter a deep coma. He stays glued to Olivia's side while she lies helpless in a hospital bed. Jonathan Hamilton, Gavin's former roommate at Stanford and another patient of Dr. Patterson's, provides support and encouragement to Gavin and Ethan after Olivia's accident. After making a miraculous recovery from a traumatic brain injury he sustained during a yachting accident, he is now a key member of the team fighting to defend the America's Cup Title in San Francisco. Breaking Through the Fog is an insightful novel that explores the distinctive culture of San Francisco and offers a unique perspective on life, love, relationships, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Jennifer (Weier) Gipp is a native of Platteville, WI. She is an Optometrist and the Optometry Residency and Internship Director at Gundersen Health System. A Luther College graduate, she completed her training at Indiana University School of Optometry in 2007 and finished her residency at the St. Louis Veteran’s Medical Center in 2009. She has a passion for providing eye care in underserved countries and has traveled extensively with her husband, Barrett, who is an attorney. Jennifer and Barrett live in Decorah, IA with their son. The inspiration for this book came from Jennifer’s experiences as a foreign exchange student with AFS while she was a senior in High School in 2000. At that time, New Zealand hosted and won the America’s Cup in Auckland. Visiting the America’s Cup Village with her friend Georgina and her mother was one of the highlights of her experience, and provided the inspiration to set this story in San Francisco during the 2013 America’s Cup races. Although this story was written in 2011 and was fictional, New Zealand actually did earn the role of Challenger, and the US did successfully defend their title in the 2013 America’s Cup. Jennifer will donate a portion of the proceeds from each book sold to the Gundersen Global Partners program, which works to improve access to medical care, education, and overall quality of life for people living in underserved areas.