Reversible Skirt by Laura McHale Holland

Reversible Skirt by Laura McHale Holland

Something's wrong with Mommy.

She gets angry and shouts, and isn't like other mothers ...

Daddy says everything's okay, but I feel scared all the time …

Laura McHale Holland's world turns upside down when her mother commits suicide, leaving three daughters under the age of five alone with an ashamed and shattered father. To repair the damage he quickly remarries, bringing home a woman he hopes can take his late wife's place. But the children don't know what to make of this new harsh and bitter parent.

The stepmother promises her husband she'll care for the girls better than their own mother. Instead she subjects them to constant abuse and seems determined to grind them down to nothing. Will this malevolent woman destroy the bonds of sisterly love, or will the little girls survive their never-ending nightmare?

Told in the voice of her younger self, Holland's searing memoir is ultimately a triumph of strength and forgiveness in the face of adversity. Get your copy and find out why readers call it a "story of overcoming impossibly challenging circumstances."

Whether penning stories long or short, true or untrue, I strive to stir people’s emotions and find hope in unlikely places. I thrive on following my imagination and encouraging others to do the same. Inspired by the freedom and power found in today’s independent publishing community, I formed a tiny company through which I’ve released several award-winning books.

As a child, I loved the musicality of language and often recalled, verbatim, conversations I heard. A lost soul in my teens and early twenties, I finally righted myself in my mid-twenties and discovered a deep love of the creative process. I’ve been hooked on that ever since.

Significant mentors for me have been surrealist poet Nanos Valaoritis, who kept groups of students spellbound during office hours at San Francisco State University, and Ruth Stotter, a master storyteller who taught me the importance of getting out of the way of tales I am meant to tell.

My newest work, a novel titled The Kiminee Dream, incorporates fantastic elements but is grounded in reality—a place I like to straddle in fiction. My published books have received recognition in the indie publishing sphere, including the National Indie Excellence Awards, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and Indie Fab Book Awards, among others. In addition, four of my short plays have been produced recently in Northern California, where I live with my husband and two goofy little mutts.