Local Author Commemorates the 50th Anniversary of 1969 with Unique Novel

Holmdel resident Sea Gudinski recently published her first novel, titled 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back , in commemoration of the year’s 50th anniversary. The novel took six years to research.

Gudinski is a graduate of Saint Benedict Catholic and Holmdel High School. Although she was an excellent student and graduated with honors, she chose not to go to college and instead manages her family’s business.

Gudinski explained what led to her decision to write this novel. “As a lover of history and a seeker of knowledge both new and forgotten, I have been composing works of historical fiction for the last eleven years. 1969 is my first published novel, and as is typical of my work, it combines factual events with a fictional narrative. The novel is a tribute to the era. Both of my parents lived through the 1960s. My father was a soldier in Vietnam as well as a musician. He was involved in the counterculture and attended Woodstock in 1969—an event that he felt dramatically influenced the course of his life. I grew up hearing his stories and listening to the music of the era and felt a personal connection to the time. I was inspired by the time and by the people and what they were trying to do. There is something magical about the ideals of peace and love and freedom expressed in that way. There’s something about an entire generation of people so taken by the same vision, each of them striving toward it as they saw fit. There’s something about a couple million people trying to live a ‘utopian’ lifestyle in a very dystopian world. There’s something very poetic and something very raw about that. It speaks to our humanity and the human condition; our follies and our redemption, our shortcomings and our triumphs.”

She continued, “My intent behind 1969 was to recapture the spirit of that time half a century ago and preserve for history a record of the message, meaning, and legacy of the era. To provide an entertaining, accurate, and objective perspective of the decade that could be enjoyed by those who lived through it as well as those who learned about it in school.”

When asked if she personally experienced any portion of the storyline, Sea shared, “Although I did not experience the events of 1969 firsthand; however, a good deal of Rhiannon’s (the book’s narrator) experiences and spiritual realizations are based on my own. Six years is a long time to spend dedicated to one literary work, and many of the things I learned and experienced throughout the process of researching and writing became absorbed into the novel. There was a great deal of growth and self-seeking that went on in my own life over the course of those six years, and you can see that plainly reflected in my writing as the story progresses.”

Visit Sea Gudinski’s website at seagudinski.com. The website details the events and music of 1969 and is a valuable tool for revisiting that era.