The Girl Who Feared Trains
American Book Fest Finalist
B.R.A.G. Medallion HonoreeOver one hundred years before COVID19, the flu pandemic of 1918 sweeps through Georgetown, South Carolina, claiming the life of young, pregnant Alice Virginia Freeman Pow. Alice’s little girls, three-year-old Tante and five-year-old Dixie, board the train for Savannah, Georgia to live with their grandmother, Aunt Sissy, leaving their beloved father alone in Georgetown. When, after seven years, Daddy remarries, Tante and Dixie return to their father and his new wife, losing yet another mother, Aunt Sissy. Shortly after the girls’ arrival, The Great Depression engulfs the country, followed closely by Daddy’s sudden and tragic illness. Tante equates train rides with tragedy and loss, but, despite the heartache of separation and the uncertainty that awaits at the end of each journey, Tante recalls a childhood of family who loves her.
Life is right normal for fourteen-year-old Bit Sizemore and her precocious twelve-and-a-half year old best friend, Wisteria Calliope Jones, until Bug Jeter sees Jesus in a rock and changes little Lovington, North Carolina forever. Tourists discover the sleepy mountain town, big-city pretty-boy Palmer Lee Compton threatens the girls’ friendship, and the town’s pets begin disappearing. That’s when Wisteria decides that it’s up to her and Bit to solve the mystery of the missing pets, while side-stepping the minefields of hurt feelings and teen crushes.
The Summer the Air Changed Video:
Invisible Girl
B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
The fast-paced narrative style offers a host of plot twists and unexpected developments…that should keep readers eagerly turning pages. -- Kirkus Reviews
What is a fourteen year old to do when her mama’s best friend is found guilty of murdering his wife and said mama swirls into madness from the sheer weight of her grief? When Briley Beckwith comes face to face with this tragic reality, she does the only thing she can think to do: she becomes invisible.Armed with her new-found Power of Invisibility and the comfort of Miss Delphine, her eccentric, chain-smoking, opera loving, Yoo-hoo-chugging neighbor, Briley copes by tiptoeing, undetected, around the chaos that has engulfed her family—until the real murderer is exposed.
Invisible Girl Video:
What Does Love Sound Like?
When Charlie Collier dies unexpectedly, his wife, Jinx, feels as though she has lost her whole family. So Jinx, along with the family maid, Polly Ann, heads for New York City, leaving behind all her friends and the only home she has ever known. Reuniting with her son, Knox, Jinx begins to heal with the help of Knox, his new family, and a host of New York friends. It is there Jinx learns that she hasn’t lost her family, after all. ‘Cause as wise Polly Ann Bondurant once said, "Family isn't what you're given; family is what you make it."
What Does Love Sound Like? Launch Video:
The Gifts Of Pelican Isle
American Book Fest Finalist
A wholesome and uplifting tale of rediscovered hope, love, and second chances, perfect for fans of breezy, beachy fiction. -- Kirkus Reviews
When Ally Albright’s husband and unborn child are killed by a drunk driver, Ally is certain her life has ended, as well. But a request from a beloved professor to teach a first-grade class on Pelican Isle draws Ally from her grief and the security of her parents’ home to the remote island off the coast of North Carolina. Though her plan is to teach only until a permanent replacement can be found, Ally is immediately captivated by her enthusiastic and endearing students. Befriended by the islanders, including charming Dr. Chris Cruz and loving yet eccentric neighbor Joy Summers, Ally accepts the community’s hospitality and discovers that Pelican Isle is not just a way station, it is a safe harbor for recovery, rebirth, and hope—not just for Ally but for all the residents of the island.
The Gifts of Pelican Isle Launch Video:
Lessons I Learned From Nick Nack
B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
2014 Writer's Digest Honorable Mention
When Rowdy Murphy’s husband, Mark, abandons her for a younger woman, leaving behind a dog that Rowdy hates, never wanted, and vowed she’d never walk, feed, bathe, or poop scoop, she is livid. But the divorce, Mark’s new family, and breast cancer forge an unlikely friendship between Rowdy and the much-reviled dog, Nick Nack. LESSONS I LEARNED FROM NICK NACK is the story of one woman’s journey through anger, loneliness, illness, pain, and fear and her ultimate surrender to the power of unconditional love.
Getting The Important Things Right
Padgett Gerler’s debut novel follows the lives of Colonel Thomas McChesney Albemarle, III and southern debutante Lydia Rose Carlyle, known as Ma’am, from their first meeting at the USO during World War II to the Colonel’s death forty years later. While Colonel Tom physically and emotionally batters his family, Ma’am escapes the turmoil with alcohol. Their children, Percy, Sis, and Oops, with no adult guidance, learn to sidestep their family minefields alone, forming a loving bond that will sustain them through the most poignant and tragic of circumstances. Told with captivating grit, humor, and insight, this tale of family discord carries the Albemarles through decades of turbulence until tragedy teaches them to forgive and understand by GETTING THE IMPORTANT THINGS RIGHT.