Judith Dechesere-boyle

Big House Dreams Judith Dechesere-boyle

Publisher Marketing: Big House Dreams is a southern family saga that spans four generations beginning with pious, judgmental Emma Jenkins who dictates the way life should be lived by spouting old adages and Bible verses. In l947, however, when she decisively tells her eighteen year old daughter, Sara Mae, "I kain't have no whore livin' under my roof," their relationship is severed. It is a horrid close to Sara Mae's adolescence, yet she struggles onward, seeking to understand not only herself, but a community that has been tainted with murder, destruction, and cruelty at the hands of more than one unsavory resident. In time Sara Mae abandons tiny Cam's Corner, and though fraught with hateful memories of her youth, she tenaciously, albeit a bit naively, plows into adulthood discovering along the way the depth of her resilience and her capacity to love. She raises a daughter, Sheila, and is pulled into the lives of Sheila's four fast friends who bumble into adult life with a hearty balance of snipping and support. The disparate nature of the girls drives them apart and pulls them together again in random fashion. Through it all, with the men who come in and out of their lives, they experience shock, betrayal, love, acceptance, and resolve. In the end, Sara Mae reflects. It has not been an easy road but the bumps and crooks eventually lead her to a catharsis and to a clearer understanding of life. Contributor Bio:  Dechesere-Boyle, Judith About the Author Judith DeChesere-Boyle was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky and with the exception of living for three years both in England and Texas, was raised there. She first attended the University of Kentucky, and then moved to California, graduating from College of Marin with an AA degree in English with a Creative Writing emphasis and San Francisco State University with a BA degree in English. She attended Sonoma State University, earning two teaching credentials and an MA in Education. She taught English at the secondary level, retiring early enough to pursue her love of writing more seriously. She has raised two wonderful sons, and now lives in Sonoma County, California with her husband, Rick. Besides writing, she reads avidly, gardens, adores her three grandchildren, sails her Ericson 35 sloop, and walks her German Shepherd and Chocolate Lab/Britney three miles a day. She dotes on her one-eyed cat and enjoys tending the family's pond full of koi.