Fiction - She Writes Press

The Three Lives of Mary Sutton

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:39:35 +0000

In 1878, young Mame Sutton escapes her oppressive father through a quick marriage to the charming stage manager of a New York theatre, while her younger sister Lizzie makes the same escape by eloping with a young Jewish jeweler. Which sister has made the better choice? Life for Mame in a theatrical boarding house in [...]

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Far from the Ocean’s Edge

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:38:11 +0000

Growing up on a remote island with her mother, twelve-year-old Skye is endlessly curious about the natural world—tracking tides, seabirds, starfish—and dreams of becoming a marine biologist. But more than anything, she longs to reunite with the father she’s never met and finally feel her family is complete. When her summer takes an unexpectedly turn [...]

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A Hidden Fate

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:36:51 +0000

Baltimore, 1986. Julia and Matt are newlyweds, in love and eager to begin graduate school. Julia longs to leave behind haunting memories of her mother’s devastating decline in Maryland, but she unexpectedly learns the truth her father has hidden: Her mother died of a fatal genetic illness. Julia now faces a 50 percent chance of [...]

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Not Everything Burns

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:36:09 +0000

Amber Mettle is a Chicago journalist with a rescue instinct—especially for animals. When she follows her restless husband to Los Angeles for a fresh start, she tries to keep an open mind. But before she can find her footing, she finds herself blindsided by betrayal—no job, no future, no sense of direction. And then, just [...]

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What Happened in Beulah

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:35:22 +0000

Nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Beulah has always seemed steady—rooted in tradition, shaped by generations, and slow to change. But in 1986, the ground has shifted, and no one feels that more than fifteen-year-old Barrett Childress Owens. Between her parents’ unraveling marriage and a school full of kids she can’t connect with, [...]

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Nomad

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:34:42 +0000

After the sudden death of her brother, Corey retreats to a remote ranch in Sedona, Arizona, hoping the silence of the desert can drown out the noise of her grief. But the quiet only deepens her isolation—until a mysterious stray dog appears, pulling her back into the world and forcing her to face what she’s [...]

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Istanbul Dreaming

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:33:25 +0000

In 1950s Turkey, against the backdrop of the social and political unrest that will culminate in Turkey’s 1960 military coup d'état, a dutiful daughter is torn between family expectations and her dream of becoming a modern Turkish woman. One night, seventeen-year-old Ayten sneaks away to Istanbul for a night of dancing with her best friend. [...]

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Learning to Hit My Mother

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:31:50 +0000

A clear-eyed and necessary account of how violence insinuates itself into characters living liminal lives in the purgatorial world of Ontario, Illinois, Learning to Hit My Mother is a collection of connected stories that all possess a unity of place—and characters so compellingly human that they promise, with an almost unflappable certainty, to possess the [...]

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Drama Drama Drama

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:29:48 +0000

Mona is living the dream . . . until, at thirty-eight, her busy stay-at-home-mom life is upended. Her grandmother moves into assisted living, her teenager, Grace, doesn’t need her anymore, her charity work kicks her to the curb, and none of her friends are showing up for her. Suddenly, Mona has no purpose—unless you count [...]

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Objects May Appear

Brooke Warner — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:24:30 +0000

Quinn has spent a lifetime unwinding from a childhood that was both magnificent and traumatizing. As a child actor, she was showered with attention and luxury even as she battled a mother who coveted her success—and eventually stole all her money. Now, Quinn lives a quiet, peaceful life that once seemed impossible for someone like [...]

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