Summer of Elves by Joanne Vruno

Summer of Elves

by Joanne Vruno

Summer of Elves is an enchanting fantasy about a twelve-year-old girl thrust into a magical world she knew nothing about. Trained by her grandmother, Aly must learn how her new-found talent and embrace the responsibility of seeing a mythical world that most humans never will see. In this coming-of-age novel, our heroine needs to embrace these powers so that good conquers evil.





BIOGRAPHY

Joanne Vruno was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), to very adventurous parents who were missionaries at the time. She spent her childhood in Maplewood, Minnesota, houses away from Battle Creek Regional Park. Her childhood introduced her to a love of nature by exploring and hiking the woods, camping with her family, and gardening.

FIND OUT MORE

Author site: http://www.joannevruno.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5866463.Joanne_Vruno
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joannevrunoauthor
Publisher: North Star Press

PURCHASE
Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Girls in Ice Houses by Linda Morganstein

Girls in Ice Houses

by Linda Morganstein

Maxie Wolfe is on track to becoming the most notorious female paparazzo of all time, a dubious goal that reflects her flight from the past. One scorching summer night, outside the Bad Mama Supper Club on Sunset Boulevard, Maxie scuffles with Fisher Jacobs, a celebrity female sports agent. They're both arrested and sentenced to anger-management classes. Things go from bad to worse for the pair in Hollywood, until they flee to Fisher's family in Minnesota.

In the heartland, Maxie begins to bond with the Jacobs family and to use her suppressed talent to take photos that aren't ugly celebrity exposes. While in Minnesota, she begins to uncover secrets about the Jacobs family. Secrets that could destroy them.

Girls in Ice Houses is a thoughtful yet humorous exploration of complex family dynamics, the nature of art and creativity, and the relationship of comedy and tragedy in a tentative world.


BIOGRAPHY

Linda Morganstein is an award-winning, overeducated writer of who also happens to be the product of a Borscht Belt childhood in the Jewish hotels of the Catskills. In the seventies, she dropped out of Vassar College and drove a VW van to California, where she lived in Sonoma County for many years. Later, she studied with Jane Smiley in Iowa. She currently resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her understanding spouse Melanie and her exceptional dog, Courage. In addition to writing, Linda is avid golfer and sourdough bread-baker. In short, she has a phobia for boredom. Due to her Borscht Belt background, she has a distinct interest in humor as an antidote to the complications of life. This includes an arsenal of jokes supplied by her late father, a master comedian.

FIND OUT MORE
Author site: http://www.lindamorganstein.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1009546.Linda_Morganstein
Publisher: Regal Crest Books

PURCHASE
Amazon and Barnes & Noble

So Many Africas by Jill Kandel

So Many Africas
Six Years in a Zambian Village

by Jill Kandel

In 1981, Jill Kandel traveled to the remote Zambian village of Kalabo. She was a bride of six weeks, married to a blue-eyed boy from the Netherlands. Amidst international crises and famine, she gave birth to two children, bridged a cultural divide with her Dutch husband, and was devastated by a car accident that took the life of a twelve-year-old Zambian child. She stayed six years. After returning home, Kandel struggled to find her voice and herself. This is the story of how she found her way home.



BIOGRAPHY

Jill Kandel grew up in North Dakota, riding her Appaloosa bareback across the prairie. She has lived and worked in Zambia, Indonesia, England, and in the Netherlands. She now lives with her husband and children in Minnesota where she teaches creative writing and essay. Kandel also teaches journal writing classes to female inmates at a local county jail.

Kandel's book, So Many Africas: Six Years in a Zambian Village won the 2014 Autumn House Prize for Creative Nonfiction. She was the runner-up of the 23^rd Annual Missouri Review Jeffry E. Smith Editors' Prize and her work has been anthologized in Best Spiritual Writing 2012 (Penguin Books) and in Becoming: What Makes a Woman (University of Nebraska, 2012).  Her essays have been published in The Missouri Review, Gettysburg Review, Brevity, River Teeth, Pinch, and Image.

AWARDS

2014 Autumn House Prize for Creative Nonfiction

FIND OUT MORE
Author site: http://jillkandel.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5768678.Jill_Kandel
Publisher: Autumn House Press

PURCHASE
Amazon or directly from the author