Featured Works

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A Violet Season

Novel

A mother’s choices in a time of crisis threaten
the one person she means to protect—
her only daughter—and force her
to make the boldest move of her life.

The violet industry is booming in 1898, and a Hudson Valley farm owned by the Fletcher family is turning a generous profit for its two oldest brothers. But Ida Fletcher, married to the black sheep youngest brother, has taken up wet nursing to help pay the bills, and her daughter, Alice, has left school to work. As they risk losing their share of the farm, the two women make increasingly great sacrifices for their family’s survival, sacrifices that will set them against one another in a lifelong struggle for honesty and forgiveness. Vivid and compelling, A Violet Season is the story of an unforgettable mother-daughter journey in a time when women were just waking to their own power and independence.

Essays & Reporting

Conservation, Humor, Local Interest

My essays run from the serious (“Columbine Again,” Michigan Quarterly Review) to the silly (“Square Pride,” Brain, Child). As a journalist in the Hudson River Valley, I covered environmental issues, including development pressure on local farms, failing sewage systems affecting the river, and water conservation, as well as countless planning and zoning, town board, and school board meetings. I focused on features for New Haven’s popular online magazine Daily Nutmeg, for which I’ve written nearly 600 stories. In service to the people of New Haven, I’ve floated in a sensory deprivation tank, sat in the dark listening for frogs, learned tai chi and tap dancing, interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winners, waxed poetic on fog, gone in search of the best bagels, and grabbed every assignment that would get me into a boat on Long Island Sound.

Short Fiction

Published in print or audio format

My career as a published writer began with short fiction. A partial list of my published stories includes:

Intuition,” Amazon Digital Services

Aubrey’s Boyfriend,” Confrontation

Buffalo,” Blue Mesa Review

“A Good Regret,” Cimarron Review

“Wendy as Elsa,” Indiana Review

“What to Expect,” Talus Review

Kathy's Substack

Tips for Book Clubs, Discussions, and Ruminations

I created my Substack newsletter, Better Book Clubs, to help book clubs become stronger readers, with livelier discussions, in groups that hold together and function year after year. But a lot of what I share is useful and entertaining for individual readers, too. On Wednesdays, I post “This Week, I’m Reading…”—a quick paragraph on what I’m reading that week and my impressions. Not a book review, just some thoughts and an invitation to pile on with comments on what you’re reading, too. On Sundays, I post a longer feature. These might include tips for book clubs, ruminations on a reading life, book-related travel, in-depth discussions of favorite books, photo essays, and more. I respond to all of my comments and love to engage with my readers!

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