Sydney is married, has her own company and everything is wonderful. But the return of her past threatens the life she is living.

The novel, “Sydney’s Secret” by P.H. Gibson (2023; 326 pages; paperback $14.99) has romance and suspense, with a lot of social interaction among realistically-drawn people that readers can relate to. It has emotional drama with a bit of humor mixed in.

Phyllis Gibson calls her first novel “cosmopolitan, contemporary women’s fiction” and “a multi-cultural romance with underlying themes.

“It’s not a traditional romance. I didn’t follow a formula. I just write to have fun and I wanted to build interesting characters. They are based on my friends and family, and people I met in my life,” Gibson says during an interview in a Wind Gap diner.

Gibson was a corporate communications executive, writing advertising and public relations copy, executive speeches and presentations. Her career honed her ability to write. She appreciates the freedom to write a novel without ever-present deadlines.

“There is always a structure in corporate communications. Fiction is so different. You and your characters can do anything you want. You can take different directions, and ask yourself, ‘What if she did this or that?’” says Gibson, who lives in the Poconos, Monroe County.

Gibson says she resisted slotting the novel in the romance genre, where publishers expect writers to follow certain templates.

There is some of Gibson herself in the character of Sydney. Some readers who know her say she is Sydney, and others say she is Sydney’s friend Puff. The international locales reflect Gibson’s former job, 60 to 75 percent of which was travel that included Europe and Asia.

“Sydney is open to new possibilities and to the world. She is always looking to open another door or find another point of view. She has a goal. She is driven, not taking no for an answer,” says Gibson.

“She is an entrepreneur, and keeps trying to keep that career going. Despite her challenges, she plugged on and she was determined to live the life that she wanted and to live in joy. I wanted the book to be inspirational.”

Gibson is an achiever, She learned how to play the violin at age six and earned a seat with the All-Philadelphia Children’s Orchestra at the age of nine.

“My mantra is: ‘I choose.’ You decide what happens to you. Not doing anything is a choice. Instead of saying ‘I’m the victim,’ I tell others they can say, ‘What are you going to do about it? What is your next step?’

“People tell me, ‘Everything goes so perfectly for you. But they don’t know the challenges that are underneath all that.’”

As for the secret in the novel’s title, Gibson says, “Don’t we all have secrets, and things we may not want to be totally revealed?”

The book is driven by its realistic dialogue, which was also influenced by Gibson’s experiences.

“I’m a speechwriter, and I write for the ear. I know what things sound like,” she says.

Her first professional job after finishing graduate school at Columbia University was writing, producing and broadcasting an educational television program in New York City.

“I wanted to create an environment more closely aligned with my life. Sydney is not the stereotypical African-American that is seen too often in fiction. She is a CPA. The book is not about slavery or somebody who went to jail. I don’t know those people.

“I didn’t expect people would buy the book,” she says. “I was just going to give it as gifts to friends.”

Her many connections and participation in book clubs drove sales through word of mouth. “Secret” turned out to have a wide demographic appeal, and her readers include those from France, Spain and Sweden.

She says, “I’m still in the giddy stage” since the book has been published. She uses her own made-up word as she adds, “Things keep getting funner and funner.”

Gibson is working on a second book of autobiographical nonfiction with the working title “Chubby Chocolate Chipmunk Cheeks and All.”

“It will be essays on making a major life transition and coming through it,” she says.

“Sydney’s Secret” is available at: www.amazon.com

“Literary Scene” is a column about authors, books and publishing. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com