Stuck in an unfulfilling marriage, Sara Stanton - high school teacher, mother of three, and cancer survivor - decides to leave her husband at home and travel to Italy to visit Julia, her best friend from high school lives who she hasn't seen in 30 years. In the gorgeous Tuscan countryside, an unexpected attraction to her best friend threatens to turn Sara's already shaky world upside down. Sara's inner conflict and subsequent choices reveal an unpredictable yet dynamic future for all the characters. An emotional and lyrical novel about love and commitment, courage and transformation from Amazon #1 bestselling author Susan Gabriel.

Seeking Sara Summers

Literature & Fiction

Gabriel, Susan

Literary

Wild Lily Arts

A cave boy shows up in Quentin's bedroom and adventures unfold in this comedic novel by Amazon #1 bestselling author Susan Gabriel.  Quentin Moss is an average 13-year-old boy with an anything-but-average problem: the cave boy he dreamed about last night has shown up, alive and smelly, in his bedroom. As past and present collide with comic consequences, Quentin must hide the secret identity of his new friend who is fascinated by zippers and loves to flush the toilet - over and over again. Before the day is over, Quentin and his best friend, Buzz, have to find a way to help the homesick cave boy get back to his home - thousands of years in the past. But first they have to get through the school day. Quentin may not be the cutest, smartest guy in school, but the way he deals with the greatest adventure of his life will have readers of all ages laughing out loud.

Quentin and the Cave Boy

Children's Books

Action & Adventure

The Secret Sense of Wildflower - Southern Historical Fiction, Best Book of 2012: Wildflower Trilogy Book 1

"There are two things I am afraid of. One is dying young. The other is Johnny Monroe." Small southern towns have few secrets. But when a grieving daughter confronts the local bully, she unwittingly triggers a series of traumatic events that will change her life forever. Appalachia, 1941. Thirteen-year-old Louisa May "Wildflower" McAllister's heart still aches for her father. A year after her dad's tragic sawmill accident, she relies on her strength of spirit and her heightened intuition to deal with a critical mother and cope with the aftermath. Despite these hardships, Wildflower has a resilience that is forged with humor, a love of the land, and an endless supply of questions. But when she's targeted by the town's teenage bad boy, she may need more than her "secret sense" to survive. Will Wildflower fall to another tragedy or will her strength be enough to carry her through? With prose as lush and colorful as the American south, The Secret Sense of Wildflower is powerful and poignant, brimming with energy and angst, humor and hope. * * * Named a Best Book of 2012 by Kirkus Reviews: "A quietly powerful story, at times harrowing but ultimately a joy to read." "This was chosen by our book club as our book for the month. I am so happy it was! It was the best book of the year." - Cecilia C. "I've never read a story as dramatically understated that sings so powerfully and honestly about the sense of life that stands in tribute to bravery as Susan Gabriel's The Secret Sense of Wildflower." - T.T. Thomas

Genre Fiction

Whether you are new to writing or an experienced veteran, this wonderful book by Amazon #1 bestselling author Susan Gabriel will provide you with inspiration, writing tips and encouragement to get going and keep going.Whether you are new to writing or an experienced veteran, this wonderful book by acclaimed author Susan Gabriel will provide you with writing inspiration, writing tools and tips, and encouragement to get going and keep going. In addition to sharing from her own experience as a writer for over 15 years, Gabriel also reflects on thoughts and experiences from a wide variety of writers and other inspiring people including Anne Lamott, Natalie Goldberg, Annie Dillard, Virginia Woolf, Harriet Tubman, Ursula Le Guin, Barbara Kingsolver, Kathryn Hackett, Hillary Clinton, Alice Munro, Jane Austen, Maya Angelou, Fran Lebowitz, Brene Brown, Emily Dickinson, Anne Tyler, Harper Lee, Elizabeth George, Nora Ephron, Gail Godwin, May Sarton, Willa Cather, Marianne Williamson,  Carson McCullers, Sue Monk Kidd, Alice Walker, Louise Erdrich, Geena Davis, Martha Beck, Mary Oliver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Tina Fey and others.You might have enjoyed The Artist's Way, but whether you have or not, if you are looking for writing inspiration and writing tools to help you get started, you'll enjoy the wide ranging and inspiring essays, including:* Where ideas come from* The art of "shitty" first drafts* A lesson from Tina Fey* 101 excuses why people don't write* Writers who are also mothers

Fearless Writing for Women: Extreme Encouragement and Writing Inspiration

Self-Help

Creativity

Finding a rare treasure brings trouble and transformation to a coming-of-age Cherokee boy. Thirteen-year-old Sam lives on a reservation in North Carolina with his beloved grandmother who teaches him the Cherokee ways. To honor his ancestors, Sam hikes to a nearby sacred mountain where he encounters a red-tailed hawk and has a life-threatening fall off a steep trail. Bruised and shaken, he lands at the roots of an ancient oak tree where he discovers, tangled in the roots, an extremely rare star ruby. When news of the ruby gets out, he confronts bullies and thieves before connecting with a renowned gemstone expert to determine the ruby's value. In the meantime, Sam calls on his circle of ancestors to help him decide the fate of his treasure. Their message takes him far beyond the boundaries of his home where he will discover if the ruby is a blessing or a curse.

Circle of the Ancestors

A town held together with secrets. A wealthy widow looking for an heir. One choice could shame high society into submission. Eighty-year-old Southern aristocrat Iris Temple's health may be failing, but her wit is as sharp as ever. Before she joins her ancestral ghosts, she must pick an heir to take over her sprawling estate--and the book of secrets that's kept her family in power for generations. But between her scheming son, her estranged daughter who abandoned Savannah years ago and her illegitimate half-sister, she's working with slim pickings. While only her half-sister and cook have put up with her outlandish diet and constant bickering, she can't ignore the powerful hold her late father's 100-year-old mistress has over the two women. When someone leaks embarrassing snippets from the Temple family book, she half suspects the voodoo-practicing centenarian as the elites of Savannah teeter on the edge of revolt. With Iris fading fast, her ragtag bunch of potential heirs must reveal the leaker before the book's secrets tear the sleepy town apart. Temple Secrets is a hilarious women's fiction novel with a Southern gothic flair. If you like wisecracking humor, headstrong women, and twisty mysteries, then you'll love Susan Gabriel's compelling tale of an unconventional inheritance.

Temple Secrets: Southern Fiction (Temple Secrets Series Book 1)

Humor & Satire

This delightful collection of short stories from acclaimed writer, Susan Gabriel (The Secret Sense of Wildflower, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 and Amazon #1 bestseller), is rich in humor, as well as mystery and meaning. Whether white or black, living or dead, down home country or upscale urban, Gabriel's characters are quirky, poignant and deep. They include: - A Gullah woman uses folk magic to cast her latest spell. - A girl coming-of-age deals with death in 1940s Tennessee. - A wealthy Savannah matriarch with gastrointestinal issues guards family secrets. - A good ol' boy observes himself shortly after his death. - An agoraphobic woman strikes up a unique friendship with the girl across the street. - A band of seventy-year-olds find healing in a mountain stream. - And more. Written in the tradition of Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty, the eight short stories in Grace, Grits and Ghosts: Southern Short Stories are all rooted in the southern landscape-from the steamy coast of Georgia, to the current day Atlanta suburbs, to the ancient Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.Pull up a rocker on the front porch, take a sip of your sweet iced tea and lose yourself in these original stories of soulful southerners and their sultry landscape.

Grace, Grits and Ghosts: Southern Short Stories

Lily's Song: Southern Historical Fiction (Wildflower Trilogy Book 2)

A mother's secrets, a daughter's dream, and a family's loyalty are masterfully interwoven in this much anticipated sequel to Amazon #1 bestseller The Secret Sense of Wildflower. "Wildflower" McAllister's daughter, Lily, now 14, struggles with her mother's reluctance to tell her who her father is. When a stranger appears on the family doorstep, drunk and evoking ghosts from the past, it threatens to break the close-knit McAllister family apart. Meanwhile, Wildflower has a deep secret of her own. When Lily discovers it by accident, it changes everything she thought she knew about her mother. The events that follow silence the singing she dreamed of sharing with the world. With her signature metaphors, Gabriel weaves a compelling tale that captures the resilience and strength of both mother and daughter, as secrets revealed test their strong bond and ultimately change their lives forever. Set in 1956 southern Appalachia, Lily's Song stands on its own, and readers who are new to Gabriel will be drawn into the world she so skillfully depicts. As a sequel, it will captivate fans of The Secret Sense of Wildflower (a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012), who have eagerly awaited more.

A hopeful grandmother. A sassy young girl. Their audacious summer stunt could change their southern town forever. Charleston, 1964. Ida Trueluck is still adjusting to life on her own. Moving into her son's house creates a few family conflicts, but the widow's saving grace is her whipsmart granddaughter Trudy. Ida makes it her top priority to give the girl a summer she'll never forget. When a runaway truck nearly takes her life, Trudy makes fast friends with the boy who saves her. But since Paris is black, the racism they encounter inspires Trudy's surprising summer mission: to take down the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse. And she knows she can't do it without the help of her beloved grandmother. With all of Southern society conspiring against them, can Trudy, Ida, and their friends pull off the impossible? Trueluck Summer is a Southern historical women's fiction novel set in a time of great cultural change. If you like courageous characters, heartwarming humor, and inspirational acts, then you'll love Susan Gabriel's captivating tale.

Trueluck Summer: Southern Historical Fiction (A Lowcountry Novel)

United States

A family legacy in danger. A stranger in their midst. Do they have the strength to survive the gathering storm of secrets? For the Temple women, the winds of change are blowing. And if they're not careful, it could sweep them all away... After rising from Temple servant to tea shop owner, Violet finally feels in charge of her destiny. While learning Gullah folk magic from her aging grandmother, she worries much of her cultural heritage will be lost to the grave. Is there enough time for Old Sally to pass down all her special wisdom? Bride-to-be Queenie has never felt younger at heart. Engaged to the man of her dreams, the feisty sixty-year-old won't let anything ruin her big day--not even ancestral ghosts or a mysterious wedding crasher. Rose's southern roots run deep. Even after three decades away, she can still feel the shadow of her deceased high-society mother watching her every move. Can she shake her ghost and find a place among her family? With a storm of trouble brewing across the island, the Temple women will have to survive more than a force of nature to put their ghosts to rest... Gullah Secrets is the sequel to the bestselling novel Temple Secrets. If you like Southern gothic literature, characters you won't want to close the cover on, and locations steeped in history, then you'll love this hilarious and warmhearted saga.

Gullah Secrets: Sequel to Temple Secrets (Southern fiction)

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