This month we celebrate Women’s Fiction stories about people whose lives have been upended by a deep hurt or shocking news. Here are 10 stories wrapped around a big betrayal, unexpected news, suddenly exposed hidden plots, dangerous liaisons and secret alliances, all sure to keep you reading to the last page.
The Road to Me by Laura Drake | Story Plant, 2022
Jacqueline was raised by her alcoholic mother. Sporadically, her hippie grandmother would breeze in with gifts and love, then bug out. Jacqueline didn’t know if she hated her grandmother for leaving her, or herself, for believing that this time would be different. But when the universe conspires to set them on a Route 66 road trip, what Jacqueline discovers might not only heal her past but open her to a brighter future.
Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith | Ten 16 Press, 2022
A multi-layered tale of three generations of women: A world-famous journalist at the end of her career who stands to lose everything because of a vicious online troll; a fledgling politician knee-deep in a run for Congress who longs to reconnect with her estranged daughter, and a young investigative reporter, desperate to reboot her stalled career, who must choose between the two when she uncovers a decades-old lie.
Rapture by Revenge: Warriors for Equal Rights by Marie W. Watts | Las Tortugas Press, 2022
All Alice wants is to make it to retirement. Her boss has other ideas. As Alice’s team celebrates significant victories in bringing workplace discriminators to justice, their federal investigative unit is served a one-two punch. The head of the agency blames Alice, suspends her indefinitely without pay and closes the office. Alice begins a self-spiral of regret and recriminations: her reputation in tatters — her self-esteem at an all-time low. Paralyzed, she watches as her coworkers struggle to pull themselves out of the pit of Alice’s making and forge a path to redemption and self-fulfillment. Will Alice also be able to pull herself together and start living again?
All the Salt in the Sea by Tammy L. Harrow | Red Adept, 2022
In her first year of medical school, Abby West’s goals for the future were derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. Reluctantly, she discarded her dream of becoming a physician to be a wife. 19 years later, Abby discovers her powerful, well-connected husband has been keeping a secret — an eight-year-old son from an old affair. Devastated by the betrayal, she flees to her grandmother’s hometown on the Amalfi coast. There, Abby meets Daniel Quinn, a former American soldier turned photographer. As she travels across Europe with him, she begins to imagine a new life without her controlling and unfaithful husband. Empowered by a newfound sense of freedom and courage, Abby returns to St. Augustine to settle things with her husband. But nothing goes as planned, and what awaits may destroy her.
Flower Girl by Merida Johns | Coffee Cup Press, 2022
Suzanna Jordan thinks she can be everyone’s savior, but when she’s the one who needs rescuing, can she find the strength to save herself? Unsure of the direction her life should take after graduating from high school in the 1970s, a chance encounter with Vietnam veteran Craig Fitzgerald while studying at Ohio State University leads Suzanna to find purpose in helping others as an academic counselor. Everything is perfect until Jonathan Herbert Spencer III crosses her path. Suzanna is instantly smitten, but under his charming exterior lies a dark alter-ego of cruelty and intimidation. Feeling isolated and emotionally broken, Suzanna is desperate to flee the man who has now become her tormentor. But can the contents in a 100-year-old diary, from a woman whose past life mirrored her own, be the source of her salvation? Or will Jonathan’s persistence and obsession leave her ensnared in his trap forever?
A Scarcity of Virgins by JoAnn Catania | Iguana Books, 2021
It is 1986, and Rita McEachern’s predictable life is about to change. 18 years as a housewife have turned her borderline agoraphobic. She is stuck in an emotionally abusive and loveless marriage, but she’s not aware of it, devoting all her attention to domesticity and her four children. Culturally, she and her husband are wildly diverse, she the daughter of immigrants from a poverty-stricken Sicilian village now living in Toronto, Canada, with her husband’s Scottish family having established themselves generations earlier. An unexpected confrontation with Valentin, a ruggedly handsome Spanish immigrant from Barcelona 12 years younger than her, shakes up her life both physically and emotionally. Rita falls passionately in love with him but soon realizes the new relationship follows the same pattern and pushes her into dependency again. Can she find the courage to make hard decisions and achieve self-actualization and fulfillment?
Hope Hanna Murphy by E.D. Hackett | Independently Published, 2021
Carly Davis has been struggling with a lack of identity all her life. She was told that she ended up on her adoptive parents’ doorstep in a basket and nobody knew her real name. She decides to leave the island where she works hard to run her late family’s inn and search for her birth parents. She discovers that her biological mother named her Hope Hanna Murphy, but the original birth certificate had been destroyed after the adoption. She could have a fresh start in Maine, but she’s soured by what she feels is a betrayal by the people who had been deceiving her for decades. She returns home to seek answers about her actual origins, but she fears the truth could leave her more alone than ever. Will she find the joy she so desperately craves?
The Disharmony of Silence by Linda Rosen | Black Rose Writing, 2020
In her desperate quest for family, fitness instructor and amateur photographer Carolyn Lee must come to grips with the knowledge that her mother’s imminent death will leave her alone in the world. While preparing her childhood home for sale, she realizes, for the first time, that her mother’s antique brooch is identical to the one pinned to the lady’s dress in the painting hanging above the fireplace. Coincidence or connection? Carolyn is determined to find out. What she discovers has the potential to tear lives apart or to bring her the closeness and comfort she longs for. It all depends on how she handles the discovery.
Going Home by Judith Keim | Wild Quail Publishing, 2019
In 1970, Violet Hawkins’ only wish is to escape her life in the Dayton, OH, foster-care system and make her way to the West Coast to enjoy a mellow life and find the love she’s been missing all her life. She makes it to San Francisco, where a kind man, Kenton Chandler offers her a sandwich and a job at his father’s inn and vineyards in Oregon. With nothing to lose, Violet begins a new life in the Willamette Valley. She immediately falls in love with the land and is fascinated with the wine-making. Her bond with Kenton grows and they marry, but a stroke kills his father and before she can tell Kenton she’s pregnant, he dies in an automobile accident. Heartbroken and burdened with the gift of the Chandler Hill Inn and Winery, she’s left with the task of making them a success. Struggling to raise a child alone while working to grow the business, Violet makes a shocking discovery that changes everything.
Closer Home by Kerry Anne King | Lake Union, 2016
When Lise Redding’s estranged sister, country-pop star Callie Redfern, is killed during a publicity stunt, the small-town music teacher is dragged from her quiet life into the spotlight. Lise hadn’t spoken with Callie in 10 years, ever since Callie’s betrayal split them apart, so she’s shocked to discover that she’s inherited her sister’s massive estate. Lise is now also the guardian of her 16-year-old niece, Ariel, to whom she’s practically a stranger. Overwhelmed by grief and her new responsibilities, Lise thinks things couldn’t get worse. But overnight she becomes the paparazzi’s latest obsession. Suddenly, she and her longtime friend Dale are plastered over the front pages of the tabloids. Desperate to escape both the media and her memories, Lise sets off with Ariel on a search for the girl’s father, but the quest brings her face-to-face with long-buried secrets. Only by learning to forgive will she be able to find her way back home.
The Road to Me by Laura Drake
Jacqueline was raised by her alcoholic mother. Sporadically, her hippie grandmother would breeze in with gifts and love, then bug out. Jacqueline didn’t know if she hated her grandmother for leaving her, or herself, for believing that this time would be different. But when the universe conspires to set them on a Route 66 road trip, what Jacqueline discovers might not only heal her past but open her to a brighter future.
Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith
A multi-layered tale of three generations of women: A world-famous journalist at the end of her career who stands to lose everything because of a vicious online troll; a fledgling politician knee-deep in a run for Congress who longs to reconnect with her estranged daughter, and a young investigative reporter, desperate to reboot her stalled career, who must choose between the two when she uncovers a decades-old lie.
Rapture by Revenge: Warriors for Equal Rights by Marie W. Watts
All Alice wants is to make it to retirement. Her boss has other ideas. As Alice’s team celebrates significant victories in bringing workplace discriminators to justice, their federal investigative unit is served a one-two punch. The head of the agency blames Alice, suspends her indefinitely without pay and closes the office. Alice begins a self-spiral of regret and recriminations: her reputation in tatters — her self-esteem at an all-time low. Paralyzed, she watches as her coworkers struggle to pull themselves out of the pit of Alice’s making and forge a path to redemption and self-fulfillment. Will Alice also be able to pull herself together and start living again?
All the Salt in the Sea by Tammy L. Harrow
In her first year of medical school, Abby West’s goals for the future were derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. Reluctantly, she discarded her dream of becoming a physician to be a wife. 19 years later, Abby discovers her powerful, well-connected husband has been keeping a secret — an eight-year-old son from an old affair. Devastated by the betrayal, she flees to her grandmother’s hometown on the Amalfi coast. There, Abby meets Daniel Quinn, a former American soldier turned photographer. As she travels across Europe with him, she begins to imagine a new life without her controlling and unfaithful husband. Empowered by a newfound sense of freedom and courage, Abby returns to St. Augustine to settle things with her husband. But nothing goes as planned, and what awaits may destroy her.
Flower Girl by Merida Johns
Suzanna Jordan thinks she can be everyone’s savior, but when she’s the one who needs rescuing, can she find the strength to save herself? Unsure of the direction her life should take after graduating from high school in the 1970s, a chance encounter with Vietnam veteran Craig Fitzgerald while studying at Ohio State University leads Suzanna to find purpose in helping others as an academic counselor. Everything is perfect until Jonathan Herbert Spencer III crosses her path. Suzanna is instantly smitten, but under his charming exterior lies a dark alter-ego of cruelty and intimidation. Feeling isolated and emotionally broken, Suzanna is desperate to flee the man who has now become her tormentor. But can the contents in a 100-year-old diary, from a woman whose past life mirrored her own, be the source of her salvation? Or will Jonathan’s persistence and obsession leave her ensnared in his trap forever?
A Scarcity of Virgins by JoAnn Catania
It is 1986, and Rita McEachern’s predictable life is about to change. 18 years as a housewife have turned her borderline agoraphobic. She is stuck in an emotionally abusive and loveless marriage, but she’s not aware of it, devoting all her attention to domesticity and her four children. Culturally, she and her husband are wildly diverse, she the daughter of immigrants from a poverty-stricken Sicilian village now living in Toronto, Canada, with her husband’s Scottish family having established themselves generations earlier. An unexpected confrontation with Valentin, a ruggedly handsome Spanish immigrant from Barcelona 12 years younger than her, shakes up her life both physically and emotionally. Rita falls passionately in love with him but soon realizes the new relationship follows the same pattern and pushes her into dependency again. Can she find the courage to make hard decisions and achieve self-actualization and fulfillment?
Hope Hanna Murph by E.D. Hackett
Carly Davis has been struggling with a lack of identity all her life. She was told that she ended up on her adoptive parents’ doorstep in a basket and nobody knew her real name. She decides to leave the island where she works hard to run her late family’s inn and search for her birth parents. She discovers that her biological mother named her Hope Hanna Murphy, but the original birth certificate had been destroyed after the adoption. She could have a fresh start in Maine, but she’s soured by what she feels is a betrayal by the people who had been deceiving her for decades. She returns home to seek answers about her actual origins, but she fears the truth could leave her more alone than ever. Will she find the joy she so desperately craves?
The Disharmony of Silence by Linda Rosen
In her desperate quest for family, fitness instructor and amateur photographer Carolyn Lee must come to grips with the knowledge that her mother’s imminent death will leave her alone in the world. While preparing her childhood home for sale, she realizes, for the first time, that her mother’s antique brooch is identical to the one pinned to the lady’s dress in the painting hanging above the fireplace. Coincidence or connection? Carolyn is determined to find out. What she discovers has the potential to tear lives apart or to bring her the closeness and comfort she longs for. It all depends on how she handles the discovery.
Going Home by Judith Keim
In 1970, Violet Hawkins’ only wish is to escape her life in the Dayton, OH, foster-care system and make her way to the West Coast to enjoy a mellow life and find the love she’s been missing all her life. She makes it to San Francisco, where a kind man, Kenton Chandler offers her a sandwich and a job at his father’s inn and vineyards in Oregon. With nothing to lose, Violet begins a new life in the Willamette Valley. She immediately falls in love with the land and is fascinated with the wine-making. Her bond with Kenton grows and they marry, but a stroke kills his father and before she can tell Kenton she’s pregnant, he dies in an automobile accident. Heartbroken and burdened with the gift of the Chandler Hill Inn and Winery, she’s left with the task of making them a success. Struggling to raise a child alone while working to grow the business, Violet makes a shocking discovery that changes everything.
Closer Home by Kerry Anne King
When Lise Redding’s estranged sister, country-pop star Callie Redfern, is killed during a publicity stunt, the small-town music teacher is dragged from her quiet life into the spotlight. Lise hadn’t spoken with Callie in 10 years, ever since Callie’s betrayal split them apart, so she’s shocked to discover that she’s inherited her sister’s massive estate. Lise is now also the guardian of her 16-year-old niece, Ariel, to whom she’s practically a stranger. Overwhelmed by grief and her new responsibilities, Lise thinks things couldn’t get worse. But overnight she becomes the paparazzi’s latest obsession. Suddenly, she and her longtime friend Dale are plastered over the front pages of the tabloids. Desperate to escape both the media and her memories, Lise sets off with Ariel on a search for the girl’s father, but the quest brings her face-to-face with long-buried secrets. Only by learning to forgive will she be able to find her way back home.
