7 Years Lost, newly published by Palmetto Publishing, follows a retired military couple’s heartbreaking seven-year struggle to remain in their granddaughter’s life amid deepening family fractures.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Palmetto Publishing has released 7 Years Lost, a new novel by Dale Givens that confronts the quietly devastating reality of grandparent estrangement. Rooted in the landscape of North Alabama and drawn from actual events, the book gives literary voice to a family crisis that research suggests affects as many as one in five grandparents nationwide.

The novel follows Alex and Darla Griffin, a retired military couple who sell their home in Tuscaloosa and relocate to the foothills of the Appalachian Plateau with a single purpose: to be present in the life of their eleven-year-old granddaughter, Elizabeth. When their daughter-in-law, Claire, invites them to stay in the family home while their new house is under construction, the arrangement feels like a gift. Kickball games in the yard, puzzles at the kitchen table, and trips to Sam’s Club fill their days with the ordinary closeness they have longed for.

But beneath the warm text messages and open doors, social, cultural, and religious differences begin to splinter the family in ways Alex and Darla never anticipated. What starts as small misunderstandings calcifies into deliberate exclusion. Over the course of seven years, the couple watches helplessly as they are pushed to the margins of Elizabeth’s life, unable to scale the walls being built around her. The novel’s frame narrative builds toward a single letter, held in a lawyer’s office, waiting for Elizabeth on her eighteenth birthday. It contains everything her grandparents were never allowed to say.

7 Years Lost is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. For more information about the author, please visit any of their social media platforms.
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About the Author: Dale Givens is a retired U.S. Army veteran with 21 years of military service and a Registered Nurse who served at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The author of Ada and 7 Years Lost, Dale draws on deeply personal experience to illuminate the heartbreak of grandparent estrangement.

Dale was drawn to write 7 Years Lost by a subject that touches millions of families yet rarely finds its way into fiction. The novel explores a retired couple’s struggle to build and maintain a relationship with their granddaughter, navigating social, cultural, and religious divides as well as hidden agendas that keep them apart. Inspired by actual events, the story captures the raw, true emotion felt when a grandparent is denied meaningful access to their grandchild. According to advocacy organizations, 10 to 20 percent of grandparents are estranged from at least one grandchild, making this a story with profound and widespread resonance.

Dale has been married to his wife, Charlene, since 1982. Together they have two children and five grandchildren. His personal connection to the themes of family, love, and perseverance infuses every page of 7 Years Lost with authenticity that readers will feel deeply. Follow Dale Givens for updates on new releases.

About the Book:

Title: 7 Years Lost
Author: Dale Givens

Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Publication date: October 1, 2026
ISBN-13: 9798318851032, 9798318851049

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SOURCE Palmetto Publishing