1950. In a shack in the Georgia backwoods two siblings, Hannah Mae and Jerry, find themselves suddenly orphaned. The swift and unexpected death of their mother casts a long shadow of foster care, threatening to tear them apart. But fierce and resolute, Hannah Mae vows to keep the system from swallowing them whole.
In a desperate bid for freedom, they hit the dusty roads, aiming for the sultry embrace of Mississippi and an obscure auntie, a phantom relative who exists only as a whisper in their memories and a faded photograph in their father’s old Bible. She is their only hope, their sanctuary against the storm.
REVIEW: ‘Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us is a thoroughly compelling read. Sugarek’s outstanding, realistic portrait of the 1950s South and the forces that buffet two children reaching for more than rote safety creates a memorable tale. It will reach a wide audience, from those interested in Southern settings and portraits to readers of coming-of-age stories and sagas of survival, musical growth, and foster care struggles.’ ~~ D. Donovan, Bookwatch~Midwest Book Review
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SONG of the YUKON, a rich, historic novel about a woman homesteading, alone, in the wilderness of Alaska.
It took me 3 years to write this saga. Since it is set in the 1920’s there was extensive research to be done about how life was lived ‘off the grid’ in Alaska. It’s jammed packed with interesting characters and adventure. The old timers would tell you, ‘it’s a good yarn’ and I’m proud of it. Based on the true story of my aunt when she was a mere 17 years old, running away from home and working her way from Seattle to the wilderness of Alaska.
Alaska was calling! LaVerne’s dream was to follow in Robert Service’s footsteps to the wilds of Alaska. At sixteen she was already writing her own music and she believed that her talent could only flourish on the back trails of the Yukon. Alone and impersonating a boy, she hires aboard a freighter, out of Seattle, and works her way to the north.
‘….“Song of the Yukon” takes us on a ride with a daring young woman, LaVerne, who leaves family and friends in Seattle to make her way to Alaska and a homestead of her own in a time just after the first world war. I have always loved historical novels (my desire for a time machine is not new) but am a picky reader. I want accuracy but I also want a good story. Trish Sugarek delivers both. Song of the Yukon is a powerful saga, recommended for a broad range of readers.’ ~~ Midwest Book Review (excerpt)
Step inside a prison and join these wives who wait for their husbands. Husbands who made a terribly stupid mistake that incarcerated them for years. Wome
n Outside the Walls is based on true stories told to this author by women who have lived it.
Three ordinary women have one thing in common. The men they love are in prison. Wives visit their men behind bars every day and wonder how their lives brought them to this place. In a series of flash backs the reader explores the lives of these women when they lived normal lives with their husbands and children. The plot explodes when Chelsea, Alma and Charlie’s daughter, disappears. One visiting day something happens that will change each of their lives forever as the visiting room erupts in violence and heartbreak.
“…Powerful and innovative story about the women who wait outside the prison walls. This story focuses on three women. Based in truth and inspired while the author visited the Dixon Correctional Facility waiting to visit a convicted murderer (not related to this story). As she waited she observed wives, mothers, sisters, daughters waiting with her. But while the author was there on a detached mission of research these women were visiting a loved one. Someone, regardless of their crimes, was family.
The author gives the reader a stunning and realistic view inside these women’s lives….” Midwest Book Review
It’s the roaring twenties in San Francisco, a decade famous for hot jazz and bath tub gin.
Violet has left her small home town in the Pacific Northwest to pursue a successful basketball career and with her earnings, she buys a bar and grill. She is a ‘flapper’ in every sense of the word; working all day and playing all night. While her teenage daughter raises her seven year old son, Violet is out on the town with her latest man de’jour. Dressed in her signature red dress, she is the toast of the town and owner of a speakeasy where she hosts the cream of San Francisco’s society, city politicians, bishops, and Hollywood celebrities.
But there is an underbelly of corruption, grifters, the mob, excess, and neglect in Violet’s life. Her two children are an afterthought and she chooses her men over their well being time and time again. Their childhood needs are always trumped by her self-indulgent desires. The two children are possessions that she can put down or pick up again on a whim, showing them off to her current beau or friends and then forgotten. And when they get in her way, she gets rid of them.
REVIEW ~~ Wild Violets by Trisha Sugarek )Midwest Book Review)
Two sisters, two new marriages, and a 1920s San Francisco setting provide the background and high drama for Wild Violets, the story of a girl bent on success in professional women’s basketball – and if not in sports, than with the bar and grill she’s purchased. How did she come to lead such an adventure-filled life? Wild Violets traces the evolution of the Guyer sisters from their homespun roots (with eleven siblings) to Violet’s big breaks in basketball and then in business at a time when women are evolving into their abilities and the right to use them.
How a down-home gal becomes the centerpiece of San Francisco society, leading the carefree (and sometimes selfish) life of a flapper girl, makes for an intriguing story of romance, good and bad decisions, and the blossoming of an attitude that considers the world her oyster and men the deliverers of wealth and support.
Readers can expect to both love and hate as they follow Violet’s paths and choices. Violet is determined and gritty, often selfish, and is focused on appearances and achieving success even if it comes at the cost of family and friends. She purposely uses her beauty to manipulate those around her and her passions too often overrun the interests of others, be they beaus, authority figures, or her own children.
Despite this, reader can’t help but be intrigued as Violet charges through her 1920s San Francisco world with the ambitions and determination of an unstoppable Amazon. Perhaps part of the story line’s realistic feel is because it stems from the author’s own family stories. Or maybe it’s because Violet’s world evolves beyond her self-centered pursuits to embrace family and support systems that succeed alongside Violet’s efforts to realize her own dreams.
As the story evolves and Vi’s life moves full circle, readers interested in a blend of romance and historical backgrounds will appreciate her evolutionary process, and will find that the circumstances and determination of her world lend well to an absorbing read suitable for beach reading or a leisure choice.~~ D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Check out my true crime series, The World of Murder (Series)
In the World of Murder, A Collection of True Crime mysteries,
Detectives Jack O’Roarke and Stella Garcia, two murder cops, seek out killers on the streets of New York City. Their investigations take them from the sleazy world of strip joints to Manhattan’s upper Eastside. Poor and rich alike, no one is exempt from murder. O’Roarke and Garcia are stars at NYPD with their careful forensic investigative skills and just plain, solid cop work.