About
I'm a retired secondary teacher, now teaching at Bradley University, Peoria, IL. I've written 12 books, including a young adult series of adventure and fantasy. Always a reader myself, I started to write and published my first book in 2002. Besides writing and teaching, I love to travel, spending a portion of each summer in Europe. Often at least one of my children goes with me. I never seem to get enough of travel and since all of my books are set in Europe, my travels are a source of information for me in writing.
Description
<p>(Book 1)<br />Betrayed by the woman he loved and on the verge of destitution, artist Jonathan Martinez channels his anguish and rage into what will become his greatest masterpiece—Passion and Betrayal. The painting, critically acclaimed, ushers him into the world of fine art and allows him to realize his dreams. Stepping out of the shadows, he transforms into Phillipe, a wealthy artist and sought-after bachelor who enjoys an extravagant lifestyle—including his pick of any woman he desires.<br /><br />But when Phillipe least expects, the woman who almost destroyed him returns on the arm of his agent. Despite his anger, she awakens the part of his soul he entombed long ago. The part of him that can never forget her, no matter how deeply he buries himself in his art.<br /><br />With everything he's accomplished at stake, can Phillipe overpower the demons that haunt him and learn to love again? Or will his heart remain a shattered work of art that can never be restored?</p>
Story Behind The Book
Life was difficult in the mid-nineteenth century Germany. Most people were suffering from distress and afflictions: economic conditions, religious freedom, famine, and political upheaal. The Pollmanns from Hummersen, Germany, were enduring just such tragedies. When the crops failed in the mid-1800s, Christian Pollmann reacted by formulating a plan to travel to the New World. The journey was an arduous one. Lack of food, sparse medical attention, cramped living space, and unadulterated filth were a few of the problems. The historical novel is based on facts yet is intertwined with fictional stories, helping readers to envision the immigrants' upheaval in the Old World, the undaunted passage across the Atlantic, and the struggle as they settled in the New World.
