Elisa Stancil Levine was born in Northern California and grew up beside the American River, the site of the California gold rush. She left high school at sixteen and as a young mother earned an AA degree, remodeled sixteen houses, and wrote for Sacramento Magazine. Her successful decorative art company, Stancil Studios, has won numerous awards and is now owned by her son, James. Elisa and her husband spend hours immersed in nature on Sonoma Mountain, hiking, horseback riding, and running in the forest. This or Something Better is her second book.

From Elisa’s first memory, trust was a gift bestowed by nature, not humans. Sexual abuse by her step grandfather and her grandmother’s strange compulsion to call her a murderer haunted her from earliest childhood. Only in the wild was she able to find solace. At twelve, in a deep canyon beside the American River, she created her own theory on how to be human.

After leaving home at sixteen, Elisa struggled to raise her son, go to college, and forge a career in historic restoration. But when her fiancé died she could not cope; she soon faced financial ruin and, in her grief, fell prey to drug use. But Elisa’s story wasn’t over yet, and she went on to overcome her demons and launch a successful nationwide company as a decorative artist. Life seemed complete when she married in her fifties and she and her husband retired to a ranch on Sonoma Mountain amidst redwoods and oaks.

When a midnight firestorm ignites thousands of acres near Elisa’s home, she flees without alerting a single neighbor. Who is she, really? What if someone had died? In the aftermath of the fire, Elisa at last faces how shame from early childhood prevented her from bonding with others. Through a course of seasons, she takes steps to reclaim the innocence taken from her long ago.