I received an email from Pencraft letting me know of three, yes, THREE books receiving awards today.

Pencraft Book Awards – October 2025 – “Horace in Space,” as our Children – Nature Books’s 1st Place Winner.

Pencraft Book Awards – October 2025 – “Her Alibi,” as our Nonfiction – Relationships’s 1st Place Winner.

Pencraft Book Awards – October 2025 – “Romance in Evergreen” as our Fiction – Thriller – Terrorist’s 1st Place Winner.

I’m still reeling in shock!

Book Link

From Amazon:

Born to free-spirited, convention-shucking parents, Cassie Newman thirsts for normal. Leaving L.A. with a secret, she finds herself in Woodstock, Vermont – a town rich with Christmas tradition. She’s not big on Christmas, but Woodstock feels like the perfect fit. Landing a job with Stennett’s Hardware, she tries to forget the world she knew but the small-town charm makes her even more aware of the life she never had. To top it off, Luke Stennett has the most amazing blue eyes and a sweet way that draws her to him.

Luke has his hands full with running the hardware store and caring for his dad. Attraction for Cassie comes at him fast, but he doesn’t have time for a relationship. With her there though, things start to go right but he also harbors a secret that has the potential to turn everything upside down.

Once their secrets are revealed, will it kill the chemistry between them and send Cassie back to L.A.? Or will she fight for her happiness with Luke and stay firmly planted in a place big on Christmas?

My Review:

I loved this book and am proud to be the first reviewer. I love Christmas and this book contains the true heart of Christmas. Our female heiress protagonist left LA and the paparazzi behind and escaped to Vermont. Our males protagonist has his hands full running a business and keeping his dad safe as his father is lost within himself after his wife died from cancer. It’s time to bring them together and brings his dad out if his sorrow.

Book Title: Mistress of Dartington Hall

Series: Book 3 – Daughters of Devon

Author Name: Rosemary Griggs

Publication Date: July 10^th, 2025

Publisher: Troubador Publishing

Pages: 292

Genre: Historical Fiction; Women’s Fiction; Historical Biographical Fiction

Twitter Handles: @RAGriggsauthor @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @griggs6176 @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #WomenInHistory #Elizabethan #SpanishArmada #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/09/blog-tour-mistress-of-dartington-hall-by-rosemary-griggs.html

Book Title and Author Name:

Mistress of Dartington Hall

Rosemary Griggs

Blurb:

1587. England is at war with Spain. The people of Devon wait in terror for King Philip of Spain’s mighty armada to unleash untold devastation on their land. 

Roberda, daughter of a French Huguenot leader, has been managing the Dartington estate in her estranged husband Gawen’s absence. She has gained the respect of the staff and tenants who now look to her to lead them through these dark times.

Gawen’s unexpected return from Ireland, where he has been serving Queen Elizabeth, throws her world into turmoil. He joins the men of the west country, including his cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh, and his friend Sir Francis Drake, as they prepare to repel a Spanish invasion. Amidst musters and alarms, determined and resourceful Roberda rallies the women of Dartington. But, after their earlier differences, can she trust Gawen? Or should she heed the advice of her faithful French maid, Clotilde?

Later Roberda will have to fight if she is to remain Mistress of Dartington Hall, and secure her children’s inheritance. Can she ever truly find fulfilment for herself?

Excerpt 4:

West Country Society

Christmas 1594, Somerset

My feet felt like blocks of solid ice as I sat in the country church where Thomas’s sister Jane stood beside her new husband. Bishop John Still, a portly man, looked resplendent in his robes of office. I imagined that he must be wearing plenty of layers to keep warm. As for his bride, she wore a sumptuous gown of scarlet silk trimmed with fur. She gave a brave smile, though she suppressed a shiver, her breath a fine mist hanging like a cloud around her. At last, the ceremony over, the happy couple led the way, stepping out briskly over the uneven floor. In the quaint church of St. Mary at Ston Easton, the pews were packed with people, yet the biting cold air seemed to seep right through my heavy clothes, making me shiver. It was a relief to follow the crowd and make our way along the gravel path, our footsteps sounding loud in the still wintry air.

Carriages waited to whisk us to the Manor House, the home of Jane and Thomas’s sister Dorothy. The smell of roasting meat met us at the door, beckoning me towards a blazing fire, where I hoped to thaw my frozen toes. Tantalising aromas wafted from the kitchens, promising warm food and comfort. But, despite the cosy atmosphere, I perched on the edge of the richly upholstered seat, crossing and uncrossing my legs beneath my skirts. Conscious I was about to meet Thomas’s family and all the high-born people of Somerset, I smoothed my velvet gown and scanned the room. As the moment approached, I felt an anxious trickle of sweat run down the back of my neck.

I waited for Thomas to bring me a warming cup of wine, toes tingling as the warmth found its way to my feet. As I sat by the fire, a towering and portly figure loomed over me. Stern eyes bore into me from a pallid face dominated by a prominent hooked nose. Despite his ashen cheeks and upright bearing, his expansive girth made me wonder if this giant of a man might be overfond of good living.

‘Lady Montgomery, I believe?’

‘Indeed, and you are?’ I asked without rising from my seat.

‘My name is John Popham. I believe you know my daughter, Elizabeth?’ Flustered, I hastened to rise and make my curtsey. Richard Champernowne’s famous father-in-law, the Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench, a man said to deliver harsh judgements, studied me. I held his eyes, willing myself not to flinch from his searching gaze. I’d heard that neither recusants nor felons could expect quarter from Judge Popham.

‘Yes, sir, I know her well,’ I said, noticing a family resemblance. Elizabeth Champernowne’s pinched mouth was very like her father’s.

‘Going to marry Horner, I hear? He was wed to my daughter Amy. She’s gone to her grave now. Gave him plenty of sons, but I suppose a man needs a wife. You’re Montgomery’s daughter, aren’t you? How does your family fare in France? Got their lands back from the Catholics, have they?’ He rapped the questions out at me as fast as an archer looses arrows at the target. Before I had time to reply, a matronly woman took my arm. Dressed from head to foot in opulent fur-trimmed velvet, she was an imposing sight, with her steel-grey hair peeping from beneath a dark hood. Jewels caught the light as she turned to the judge. A warm smile spread across her round face, right up to her blue eyes. As I saw the warmth in those bright eyes, crinkling with mirth, I felt the tension leave me.

‘Leave the girl be, John Popham,’ she said, giving him a shove. ‘I’m Amy, married to this one, for my sins. Now come, let me introduce you. We’ve heard all about you. It’s terrible how they’ve persecuted you Huguenots over in France. My John will make sure we don’t allow any Catholics to hold sway here in Somerset. Have no fear of that.’

‘It’s true, my family has suffered in the wars that have divided my homeland for so long.’ Encouraged by her smile I went on. ‘Our fiercest enemies, the Catholic house of Guise, fought in the name of religion, though it was the quest for power that drove them on.’ For a moment I thought I had annoyed Judge Popham. But his thin lips stretched into a smile.

’Ah, I see you are a sensible woman. Wars are always a struggle for power,’ he said with a sage nod of his balding head.

‘I left my people in Devon in fear of another attack from the Spanish,’ I said.

‘That’s why we need to keep the Jesuits out.’ His eyes, keen as a hawk’s, never left my face. I could understand how those who came before him accused of some crime might wilt under such intense scrutiny.

‘Well, sir, I hope that will never lead to such divisions as we’ve seen in France. For my family’s sake, I hope Henri of France’s more pragmatic approach will secure lasting peace.’ That set off a long diatribe from the judge about the Jesuits, Spanish spies, and the dangers of compromise. The broadside of words left me no time to respond.

Amy Popham intervened, taking my arm to whirl me round the assembled gentry of Somerset.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jjOZk

Author Bio:

Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon’s sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.

Her novel, A Woman of Noble Wit, set in Tudor Devon, is the story of the life of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother. The Dartington Bride, follows Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, a young Huguenot noblewoman, as she travels from war-torn France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent Champernowne family. Mistress of Dartington Hall, set in the time of the Spanish Armada, continues Roberda’s story. 

Rosemary is currently working on her first work of non-fiction — a biography of Kate Astley, childhood governess to Queen Elizabeth I, due for publication in 2026.

Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, and brings the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment at events all over the West Country. Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house that was home of the Champernowne family for 366 years.

Author Links:

Website: https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/ragriggsauthor

Facebook: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladykatherinesfarthingale

Instagram: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griggs6176/

Threads: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@griggs6176

Bluesky: BlueSky:  https://bsky.app/profile/ragriggsauthor.bsky.social

Amazon Author Page:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21850977.Rosemary_Griggs

Michael and I did a thing on Sunday. We went to a children’s book signing at Red Fern Bookstore.

Although this was a children’s book signing we brought along three adult books as one never knows who will show up. Of all things, I sold out of all copies of Her Alibi and Christmas in Evergreen – both adult books. It was loads of fun. We had candy for the kids and author bling.

Just a glance at some of the bling.

See you next time!

Book Title: Ugarit: Tales of a Lost City

Author Name: Janet Tamaren

Publication Date: September 2, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 334

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

Any Triggers: battle scenes

Twitter Handles: @JTamaren @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @drtamaren @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #AncientNearEast #BronzeAge #Ugarit #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/09/blog-tour-ugarit-by-janet-tamaren.html

Book Title and Author Name:

Ugarit: Tales of a Lost City

by Janet Tamaren

Blurb:

A captivating tale of bravery in the face of heartbreak and upheaval.

IN THE SPRING OF 1190 BC, on the sun-drenched shores of the eastern Mediterranean, the thriving city of Ugarit pulses with life, trade, and courtly intrigues. But danger brews beyond its walls.

Yoninah, a gifted healer, offers herbs and amulets to ease her neighbours’ suffering. When a Mycenaean – an ex-soldier from the Trojan War—stumbles into her life, he reawakens memories she thought long buried. Just as whispers of war echo ever closer.

Meanwhile, in the royal court, Thut-Moses is a scribe who was trained in the temples of Egypt. The king is paralyzed by ominous messages: foreign invaders are razing one coastal city after another. As the tide of destruction nears, Ugarit’s fate hangs in the balance.

Torn between loyalty and survival, love and duty, Yoninah and Thut-Moses must each decide: what will they risk to protect what the hold most dear?

Rich with historical detail and inspired by newly-translated cuneiform tablets unearthed form Ugarit’s ashes, UGARIT brings to life the final days of a cosmopolitan world on the brink of collapse – a sweeping tale of courage and resilience at the twilight of the Bronze Age.

Praise for Ugarit:

“A masterfully told tale-rich, riveting, and utterly transporting. I couldn’t put it down.”

★★★★★ – Historical Fiction Review

Excerpt 1:

CHAPTER 1: ATTACK ON THE SUN

At the Healer’s House

IT was early morning at the house on Palace Street. In Yoninah’s workroom, sunlight from the window slits fell onto her tables and shelves.

Yoninah enjoyed this time of day, the quiet time before any clients appeared. She was a healer in the lower city. Her clientele were the sailors wanting ginger to protect against sea sickness or amulets to protect them from the hazards of crossing the Great Sea. And the dockworkers from the harbor, who had aches and pains from lifting heavy storage jars full of grain or ingots of copper. She also saw the young girls seeking love potions to snare a lover, as well as the older women seeking to prevent another pregnancy when they already had several children.

Frequently, Yoninah’s clients would be prostitutes. The women of the night would often have a child or two and would be seeking a way to prevent another pregnancy. Yoninah was invariably kind to these unfortunate women.

Yoninah was a handsome woman in her early thirties. She wore a fine wool tunic, with a bronze pin at one shoulder. Her hair fell in a jumble of soft black waves, setting off her light brown eyes. She was young enough to be sympathetic to the young lovelorn girls and old enough to understand the plight of the women struggling to raise children.

Yoninah arranged her potions and shelves in their jars on her shelves. Then she ground up fresh Valerian roots, for the sleeping draughts her clients invariably sought. She said a quiet prayer to Asherah. A bronze figure of the Goddess stood on a pedestal near her shelves: “Queen of Heaven, give me strength to face the coming day. Give me wisdom in dealing with my clients. Give me patience with those who try my patience.”

Yoninah also prayed to her loved ones in the afterlife: her mother who had taught her the skills of the healer and to her husband who had sheltered her and loved her for the years of their marriage. Her mother had died the year before, her husband five years past. She wished each of them a peaceful sojourn in the hereafter and assured them of her ongoing love.

As she paused for a moment in her work, she heard her daughters call out from the courtyard adjacent to her workroom.

“Mother, come see the birds!”

When she joined them in the courtyard, she saw a wondrous sight: thousands of birds filling the sky. Yoninah knew, from the years she had lived in Ugarit, that this was the time for their annual migration, from their winter homes in Africa all the way to their summer homes in the Aegean. Myriads of doves in formation, their gray wings catching the sun, provided a delightful display.

Her daughters Bat-El and Laylah were admiring the blanket of birds passing overhead. Bat-El, at age ten, was enthralled by the overhead display. She had the light brown eyes and curly black hair of the family. Her older sister, Laylah, was equally beguiled. She was fifteen, with the same black hair and brown eyes. She already had the curvaceous figure of their mother.

Then something odd happened. The sunshine dimmed. It seemed a cloud had passed over the sun, but the sky was cloudless. The cheeping of the birds decreased.. And the morning became darker. The day felt like late afternoon. Finally, the birds grew quiet and stopped flying. They settled on trees all over the city.

“The sun is going away!” Bat-El pointed at the sky.

Yoninah snuck a sideways glance at the sun. It was no longer a bright circle. A third of the sun was obscured by a dark shadow.

“My gods!” said Yoninah. “I have heard of such things. My, the birds, they are so quiet.”

The other animals were quiet too. Goats, sheep, donkeys in their quarters in the neighboring houses, they all fell silent. There was a lull over the land. The unnatural darkness of what should have been a bright morning, and the silence of the animals led to an eerie quiet. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting to find out if the world was coming to an end.

“Is the sun going to come back?” asked the girls.

“It should come back,” said their mother. Although she had personally never witnessed such an event before, she was certainly hoping it would come back.

The day grew even darker. By what should have been late morning, the sun was completely  obscured  by whatever shadow was attacking it. It felt like evening. The birds and other animals remained silent.

Finally, the sun started coming back. The unnatural darkness began to dissipate.

After another interval, the day had fully returned. It was a normal spring morning again. Except by now, it was noon. The donkeys were back to braying and the birds were back to flying. However, Yoninah couldn’t shake an unsteady feeling.

“If the sun could disappear, what other ill-omens are in store for the city?” Yoninah thought to herself.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bxpykq

Author Bio:

Janet Tamaren is a retired physician who practiced for two decades in rural Kentucky. Now living in Denver with her husband, she enjoys writing and is the author of a medical memoir and a guide to Hebrew Bible stories. She began writing UGARIT during the COVID lockdown.

Author Links:

Website: https://jtamaren.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet.tamaren

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtamaren/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FFKGWHM

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21709056.  Janet Tamaren MD

Book Link

From Amazon:

Shepherd’s Texas heart belongs to Loretta.

Having met and fallen in love with Loretta in the Empire State, Shepherd has moved beyond the ruins of his past life. And with Michael now his son, the life he always wanted is in his grasp. Following one of the best summers of his life, with it now being October Shepherd receives a phone call from his best friend. At first surprised by Luke’s sudden wedding invitation, only days away, happiness turns to disbelief and frustration when Luke reveals the name of his bride. How could Luke consider marrying such a terrible woman, who along with Shepherd’s ex-wife, made his life in rural Texas a living hell for too many years.

Agreeing to be Luke’s best man at his wedding, Shepherd prepares himself for an anxious return to Texas. With Loretta and Michael at his side, he hopes his personal demons will not spoil his best friend’s wedding. As he considers what he’s about to endure, he understands that this may be what he needs so he can look to a future beyond the Lone Star State.

My Review:

Some women are twisted. Others are sweet. This book has many of each. A sweet romance filled with heartache and treachery, embezzlement, and fake persons. The good outweighs the bad. Justice prevails. Who will it cost in the end?

Please welcome Judy and Keith to my blog. Good morning. Shall we get started? Please introduce yourself to those reading this blog post.

Judy and Keith both come from a sleepy town in the heart of England and went to the same grammar school, which translates to both middle school and high school in the US.

When they meet new acquaintances, Judy often introduces Keith as her first husband…reactions differ! She always made-up stories for their children, who’d demand ‘tell me a story.’ Sadly, we never got around to writing them down.

In retirement, our grandkids wanted stories, except this time, both Keith and Judy were asked. Keith decided to write them down. ‘Big T’ was the first, about a teddy bear who was a bully, then ‘the Wicked Witch and the Squirrels.’ It was a cold winter, and the witch wanted a fur-coat. They wrote dozens of short-stories for family and friends, using their names for key characters. Some are still available individually, but most are included in one of their anthologies, where the entire family helped with pen and pencil illustrations.

As the grandkids got older, the story content changed and became more mature. Judy and Keith would discuss the plot over a glass of wine, agree the top-level overview, then Keith did the mechanics of filling in the details. Judy would act as critic, editor, and proof reader.

Has writing always been part of your life and when did you “know” that it was time to start writing your first book?

No. We started in retirement. Judy wanted her space and challenged Keith to write a story. The first story was adults only, and published under a different penname. The grandkids were young at the time, and couldn’t read an ‘adult’ story. We asked them what they wanted…and the rest is history.

How difficult was it writing your first book?

The story simply flowed. We write a chapter at a time, following a chronological progression and letting the characters decide on the plot. We honestly believe ‘writer’s block’ is caused by the conflict between a rigid outline and what the characters actually want to do!

Have you ever wanted to give up and what stopped you?

We view writing as a hobby, which sidesteps the issue of monetary rewards. If the desire to write goes away, we will stop writing. So far, we have over 50 titles available on Amazon.

Who is the most supportive of you and your dream to be a writer?

Judy for Keith and vice versa.

Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

About the writing process, we bounce high level plot lines off each other, then let the seeds germinate. This usually happens overnight…and can lead to sleep deprivation. Eventually the characters are happy, and Keith writes the cliff-note version first. Once it’s on paper, Keith can sleep again. As an aside, Judy has the same problem when she writes music. The melodies run around inside her mind until she can write them down on manuscript paper!

Did the cover evolve the same way, or did you work with someone to make it come together for you?

Some covers Keith drew and painted, others friends created for us, some we adapted from photographs we’d taken…and others we picked non-copywrite images.

What are you working on now? Can we get a peek, an excerpt?

Our current project is ‘Touched by Magic,’ and we’re still in the germination phase. In a way, it’s a follow-on to ‘The Magic Aeroplane,’ except the key characters have grown up, and the magical adventures relegated to make-believe!

As it is close to Halloween. We wish to promote “The Wicked Witch Anthology.”

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JB7LV96

Please visit:

www.amazon.com/stores/Judy/author/B013HBQTLM

Author page, www.amazon.com/stores/Judy-and-Keith/author/B0B4TBSWRY and also www.amazon.com/stores/Judy/author/B013HBQTLM

Facebook, www.facebook.com/JudyandKeith

X @JudyandKeith

Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/show/50713911.Judy_and_Keith

Amazon, www.amazon.com/stores/Judy-and-Keith/author/B0B4TBSWRY

Instagram, www.instagram.com/judykeithauthor/

BlueSky @judykeith.bsky.social

Book Title: Then Came the Summer Snow

Series: n/a

Author Name:  Trisha T. Pritikin

Publication Date: September 15^th, 2025

Publisher: Moonshine Cove Press

Pages: 328

Genre: Historical Fiction / Dark Humor / Atomic Feminism

Any Triggers: misogynist culture of 1950s; no violence, but cancers in children are a focus, and thyroid cancer treatment.

Twitter Handles: @TrishaPritikin @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handle: @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #Downwinders #AtomicJustice #1950s #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/08/blog-tour-then-came-the-summer-snow-by-trisha-pritikin.html

Book Title and Author Name):

Then Came the Summer Snow

Trisha T Pritikin

Blurb:

In 1958, Edith Higgenbothum, a housewife in Richland, Washington, downwind of the massive Hanford nuclear weapons production site, discovers that the milk her young son Herbie drinks contains radioactive iodine from Hanford’s secret fallout releases. Radioactive iodine can damage the thyroid, especially in children.

When Herbie is diagnosed with aggressive thyroid cancer, Edith allies with mothers of children with thyroid cancer and leukemia in communities blanketed by fallout from Nevada Test Site A-bomb tests on a true atomic age hero’s journey to save the children.

Praise for Then Came the Summer Snow:

“In Trisha Pritikin’s crisp and sweeping novel, the Cold War comes home to live with a family in Richland, Washington. Not the Cold War of ideologies, but the one that included 2,000+ nuclear tests, and the production of hundreds of tons of plutonium; that contaminated our homes, food and communities; that actually took family members.”

~ Robert “Bo” Jacobs, Emeritus Professor of History at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and Hiroshima City University, author of Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha (Yale 2022).

“Then Came the Summer Snow is like an unexpected gift in its surprise and freshness.  Absurdity informs its realism, its poignancy, and its humor. A troubling, hilarious, weird, and wonderful novel.”

~ Mark Spencer, author of An Untimely Frost

Excerpt #1:

Herb clocks out of work at 5:00 PM on the dot, handing over the film badge and pencil dosimeter that read his daily on-site radiation exposure. Before he’s allowed to leave the reactor, he’s scanned with a handheld Geiger counter, checking for any wayward radioactive particles he might have picked up during the day. If anything’s found, a decontamination shower is the next order of business, followed by a repeat scan until he’s declared “clean.” Only then can he change into his “street” clothes and head home.

On the long bus ride back to Richland, Herb only half listens as the young secretary sitting next to him chatters on about her new life as a married woman. She’s ecstatic at the prospect of raising a family in a ‘safe, clean town like Richland.’  Does he have kids? she asks. “Yes, a son, Herbie.” More questions follow about Herbie’s age, his school, how Herb and Edith like Herbie’s teachers. Herb finally tunes her out, nodding his head and muttering “yah” and “I see.”

Back in town, Herb brushes crumbs off the dashboard and driver’s seat, then climbs into the DeSoto. He’s had the car now for nearly a year. He’s darn proud of it, the 1957 model right off the showroom floor. Featuring the new torsion-air ride, the DeSoto takes corners without lean or sway. The glossy full-color brochure with the photo of the car’s modern “Flight Sweep styling” reeled him right in: “Here is the new shape of motion— long, upswept tail fins, low silhouette (only 4 feet, 7 inches high), plenty of headroom, and 32% more windshield area!! This baby can flick its tail at anything on the road!” Piloting such a fine piece of modern machinery around town makes Herb feel positively regal, the master of his domain.

Herb suspects it was the elegant Frontier Homespun-style grain vinyl interior that convinced Edith to go along with the purchase— when he first brought up the idea of a new DeSoto, Edith insisted that their 1953 Buick Roadmaster still ran just fine. In the end, though, she went along as she always did. Herb bought a new Desoto, and she kept the Roadmaster as “her” car.  She would have preferred a new Dodge Le Femme over the Desoto. After all, the La Femme had that delightful upholstery covered with pink rosebuds on a silver-pink background with pale pink vinyl trim. Why, the 1955 La Femme even came with a keystone-shaped pink calfskin purse that matched the interior of the car, complete with coordinated accessories—a face powder compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, comb, cigarette lighter, and change purse, made with your choice of either faux-tortoiseshell plastic and gold-tone metal, or pink calfskin and gone-tone metal. But she knew Herb would never go for that. He wanted a Desoto, and that was that. The La Femme, after all, was a women’s car.”

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bOOqKE

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Author Bio:

Trisha is an internationally known advocate for fallout-exposed populations downwind of nuclear weapons production and testing sites. She is an attorney and former occupational therapist.

Trisha was born and raised in Richland, the government-owned atomic town closest to the Hanford nuclear weapons production facility in southeastern Washington State. Hanford manufactured the plutonium used in the Trinity Test, the world’s first test of an atomic bomb, detonated July 16,1945 at Alamogordo, NM, and for Fat Man, the plutonium bomb that decimated Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.  Beginning in late 1944, and for more than forty years thereafter, Hanford operators secretly released millions of curies of radioactive byproducts into the air and to the waters of the Columbia River, exposing civilians downwind and downriver. Hanford’s airborne radiation spread across eastern Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, and entered British Columbia.

Trisha suffers from significant thyroid damage, hypoparathyroidism, and other disabling health issues caused by exposure to Hanford’s fallout in utero and during childhood. Infants and children are especially susceptible to the damaging effects of radiation exposure.

Trisha’s first book, The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight for Atomic Justice,  published in 2020 by the University Press of Kansas, has won multiple awards, including San Francisco Book Festival, 1^st place (history); Nautilus Silver award (journalism and investigative reporting); American Book Fest Book Awards Finalist (US History); Eric Hoffer Awards, Shortlist Grand Prize Finalist; and Chanticleer International Book Awards, 1^st Place, (longform journalism). The Hanford Plaintiffs was released in Japanese in 2023 by Akashi Shoten Publishing House, Tokyo. 

Author Links:

Website: www.trishapritikin.com

Twitter / X: https://x.com/TrishaPritikin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trishapritikinfightingback/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/triesq/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Trisha-T.-Pritikin/author/B086WVVNTY

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19583157.Trisha_T_Pritikin

Atomic Heritage Foundation Interview: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/trisha-pritikin/

40…had you lived. 35 years ago you died in my arms, and after your ICU nurse pulled your tubes, I rocked you in my arms for at least 25 minutes. No one should battle the battles you had. I love you! Brother loves you. We all love you. #ChildhoodCancer #Cancer