SISTERS OF THE UNDERTOW by Johnnie Bernhard

SISTERS OF THE UNDERTOW by Johnnie Bernhard

Sisters Kim and Kathy Hodges are born sixteen months apart in a middle-class existence parented by Linda and David Hodges of Houston, Texas. The happy couple welcomes their "lucky daughter" Kim, who is physically and mentally advanced. Following several miscarriages, Linda delivers "unlucky" Kathy at twenty-nine weeks, ensuring a life of cognitive and physical disabilities. Kathy enters public school as a special education student, while Kim is recognized as gifted. Both sisters face life and death decisions as Houston is caught in the rip current of Hurricane Harvey. Kim learns the capricious nature of luck, while Kathy continues to make her own luck, surviving Hurricane Harvey, as she has survived all undertows with the ethereal courage of the resolute. Sisters of the Undertow examines the connotations of lucky and unlucky, the complexities of sibling rivalry, and the hand fate delivers without reason.

“An engaging novel that, at its core, wrestles at the struggle for personal happiness in the contemporary world. Sisters of the Undertow will resonate with anyone who’s ever asked: ‘How did I end up here?’” Cliff Hudder

A former English teacher and journalist, Johnnie Bernhard is passionate about reading and writing. A traditionally published author, her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines, both nationally and internationally. She has written articles and columns for: the Suburban Reporter of Houston, World Oil Magazine, The Mississippi Press, the international Word Among Us, Heart of Ann Arbor Magazine, Houston Style Magazine, and the Cowbird-NPR production on small town America. Johnnie's entry for Cowbird, "The Last Mayberry" received 7,500 views, nationally and internationally. Sisters of the Undertow, Johnnie's third novel, was selected for panel discussion for the 2020AWP National Conference, as well as an official selection for the international Pulpwood Queens Book Club. It was chosen by the Association of University Presses as one of the hundred best books published by university presses. Johnnie's work can also be found in the following anthologies: Louisiana Literature, Writers on Writing, The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate Twenty Years, Katrina Memories, and Coming Home.