Wayward Girls

When late-night phone calls summon Jude Coleridge and Camille Prescott back to the Talbot Hall School for Girls, painful memories bombard them. Though estranged for years, both bear the physical and emotional scars from their youth.

At the boarding school, they were branded “the crazy girls, the ones who lie” and became unlikely best friends. They soon formed a trio with a new student, Wanda Ann, who pulled them into her bewildering relationship with the school psychologist, Dr. Hedstrom. But Wanda Ann’s wild stories masked a truth that threatened to engulf them all.

As teens, the girls could only rely on each other as they moved toward an unfathomable, fiery danger. Now, in the crumbling halls of Talbot, hours before the building’s demolition, they must grant forgiveness, to themselves and others, if they are to move forward.

Description

ISBN-13: 978-1-948051-70-5

Publication Date: Summer 2021

About the Authors

Claire Matturro was raised on tales of errant, unhinged kith and kin, whiskey making, ghosts, and the War Between the States—in other words, classic Southern Gothic tales befitting her Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast roots. Inspired by such stories, she wanted to be a novelist but pursued more gainful and steady employment first. Which is to say that she has been a newspaper reporter and a lawyer and taught at Florida State University College of Law and as a visiting professor of legal writing at the University of Oregon School of Law. Claire and her husband, Bill, also own an organic blueberry farm in Georgia, where they lived for many years.

After the lawyering years, Claire returned to her love of storytelling and began writing fiction. Her big break came when a vice-president at HarperCollins took a chance on Claire’s comedic legal thriller set on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The resulting Lilly Belle Cleary series of books won several awards. These days, Claire is writing more serious fiction but still with an eye toward the Florida Gulf Coast, where she, her husband, and their rescue cat now thrive. Claire remains active in writers’ groups and environmental groups and, as an avid reader and reviewer, regularly contributes to Southern Literary Review and Compulsive Reader.

 

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Penny Koepsel began writing short stories and poetry in elementary school.  Her dream was to attend college and become a writer.  As a child, she spent hours reading her treasured books in front of the fireplace and dreamed about someday becoming an author. Sometimes life events take us on different twists and turns toward our dreams.

As a single parent, Penny put her dreams on hold for a while and worked a variety of jobs.  Her career included positions in community mental health centers, school psychological services, and for a psychological publishing company.  Penny retired from school psychology last year but contracts part-time to continue her passion of supporting children, adolescents, and their families.

Penny lives in Texas with her husband.  She is active in animal rescue groups and enjoys cooking and entertaining, gardening, traveling, and snuggling with her two furbabies.

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