Released September 29, 2020
Available NOW
Before moving, Will announced his intentions. “We feel obliged to insist you take us to St. Mary’s Hospital and Infirmary in the city proper. We aim to tell Mother Gabriel we’re alive.”
No one responded.
“We’re from the orphanage,” he added, conferring further heft to his position.
“Expect they know what happened,” the soldier carrying Albert said.
“They don’t know the part about us,” Will said, standing solid on the beach.
The Mourning Wave recounts the moment the most deadly storm in American history made landfall on the beaches of Galveston Island in 1900 and a young orphan’s fight for survival inside the doomed St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum.
Populated with real-life characters, historic figures, and powerful recollections from actual storm survivors, The Mourning Wave is a turbulent ride back through time which presents not merely history, but guidance forfacing grief, uncertainty, and anxiety in tragedy’s aftermath. Historically gripping, yet proximate, it asks if moments of indelible beauty and redemption can dependably arise from chaos in our storm-driven world.
It’s available now on Amazon.
Read an excerpt (Chapter One).
Praise for The Mourning Wave
“Greg Funderburk’s The Mourning Wave will wash over you with its powerful mixture of tragedy and faith, of suffering and hope. This a new telling of Great Galveston Storm of 1900, a story whose characters affirm the belief that ultimately, love is stronger than death.”
—Thomas R. Cole
Author of Old Man Country“As The Mourning Wave rushes ashore and captures us in an evocative struggle of grief and loss, Gregory Funderburk pulls us through its powerful wake into a journey that gradually reawakens life and recruits hope.”
— Shelly Henley Kelly
Editor of Through a Night of Horrors, Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm“Years have passed since I read a book so carefully and searchingly. Funderburk’s words and tragic story invite the reader into the true wilderness of a hurricane. Will, a young orphan, searches for life amidst death, courage amidst fear, faith amidst doubt and healing amidst loss, trauma and mourning. This novel engaged my spirit in tears, gentle laughter and healing. A profound read!”
— Dr. Tim P. VanDuivendyk
Author of The Unwanted Gift of Grief“Intense, descriptive, and based on historical events, the beautifully written story follows three boys through the night of terror as they struggle to survive and then as they witness the horrific images of death and destruction left by the storm. Through this captivating novel, readers experience the suffering and then the resiliency of the islanders. Based on real people, the book is a monument to faith, love and resurrection.”
— Linda Macdonald
Historian, descendant of 1900 Storm survivors
Director of Communications for the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the
Incarnate Word, Houston“A work of devastating detail and empathy, Funderburk’s account of the catastrophic storm and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of a young orphaned boy, is a sublime achievement. He captures the entire spectacle— both the physical and human toll— with grace and humanity, yet doesn’t hold back on the abject horror that the storm left in its wake. In fact, it’s the chaotic specificity that makes it feel so authentic, placing us firmly in the middle of a world we couldn’t possibly imagine in our worst nightmare.”
— Mark Stolaroff
Film Producer, DriverX, The Last Days of Capitalism, Pig