Illinois Authors

Faber and Faber, New York : 2000.

The story of Theresa Bedell, a New York reporter in her mid 30's who goes on an awkward blind date with Tony, the friend of a friend. She sees no reason to continue the relationship-but her date thinks otherwise. While Theresa is at first annoyed yet flattered by his continuing attention, her attitude gradually changes to one of fear and fury when he starts to violently menace her and those around her. Ultimately Theresa is forced to abandon her job and New York and even her name to escape from Tony.

Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Ill. : 2010.

"Nora seems to have it all: a successful husband, three adorable children, and a beautiful home in the tiny Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. But what looks like the perfect life is woefully incomplete, propped up by dark secrets and bitter betrayals. While her husband, Terry, single-mindedly climbs the career ladder, Nora's compulsive shopping and scheming pushes her ever further from freedom and self-fulfillment. As the lies on which their life is built gradually emerge, Nora comes to realize the true cost of what she thinks she has always wanted."--Back cover.

Dramatic Pub., Woodstock, Ill. : ©2001.

Set on a small college campus in Vermont, Spinning into butter explores the dangers of both racism and political correctness in America today. When one of the few African American students at liberal Belmont College begins receiving hate mail, the campus erupts, first with shock, then with mutual recrimination as faculty and students alike try to prove their own tolerance by condemning one another. At the center of this maelstrom is Sarah Daniels, the dean of students. As the administration sponsors public race forums and the students start activist groups, Sarah is forced to explore her own feelings of racism. Her self-examination leads to some surprising discoveries and painful insights, the consequences of which even she can't predict.

Faber and Faber, New York : 2000.

Sarah Daniels, the liberal and well-intentioned Dean of Students at a small, mostly white college in Vermont, is forced to confront her own struggles with racism after a black student begins to receive ugly racist notes.

Dramatic Pub., Woodstock, Ill. : ©2002.

Faber and Faber, New York : 2001.

This work focuses on fifteen-year-old Lisa, the daughter of a prostitute, and Clint, the car thief she runs away with to escape the misery of life with her mother. But the happier times that sullenly childlike Lisa yearns for never materialize, as Clint orders her to procure young runaways for him. No one notices that these teenage girls are missing until an anonymous call to the police reports their murders. Could the caller--and the killer--be Lisa?