Finding Utopia

(Paperback)

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FINDING UTOPIA , a romantic thriller inspired by true events, shares a touching story of love and loss, dreams realized and dreams cut short, woven through the lens of a misguided love that shatters lives and leaves a town in ashes. Set in in the rural Hill Country of Utopia, Texas, between 1917 and 1926, the story will linger long after you reach the end.

Maizelle Clarke, the town doctor's daughter, elopes with Will Jones, an auto mechanic, against her father's wishes. He disowns her and cuts her off from her siblings and the family she loves. Embraced by her new husband's mother, she learns how to be a wife and mother, at the older woman's elbow.

The young couple create an idyllic life for themselves and their growing family until tragedy strikes, throwing the mother of three into a deep depression that threatens her marriage, her family, and all she holds dear. As she struggles to climb out of the darkness another baby is born, giving her hope, a reason to live, and repair her fractured relationships.

Just as she is able to move forward again, A misguided love brings a night of terror onto the community and a dark secret threatens the family and the community's very existence.

A story of deep love, enduring friendship, loss and redemption, FINDING UTOPIA, is a tender story, at times gritty, and always gripping as it carries you to a surprising climax.

Author Bio

Linda Weber is a writer of historical fiction, memoir, and personal essays. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon with degrees in Speech: Rhetoric and Public Address and Journalism, with an Oregon Teaching Certification. She completed her Master of Public Administration work at Portland State University.
Her debut novel FINDING UTOPIA was inspired by true events in the lives of her paternal grandparents, Maizelle (Maidee) Clark and William (Will) Jones.

Linda has owned a retail Custom Clothing business, a Bed and Breakfast Inn, and a Direct Sales and Marketing business, for which she also served as a corporate trainer.

She was named Advocate of the Year for Women in Business by the Portland Oregon office of the Small Business Administration and chaired a regional "Women In Business" Conferences, attended by over 1,000 women and men from the Western Region of the SBA.

She is an accomplished public speaker and community activist who has run for state-wide political office and been active in promoting causes for women's equality and advancement in business..

Coming Soon:
SURVIVING UTOPIA, the continuing story of Will Jones and his five motherless children as they navigate life during the Great Depression.

AFTER UTOPIA, her current work-in-progress, continues the stories of the children as they become adults.

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, a heartbreaking story of infanticide and overcoming the damage of having a mother who doesn't love her child, based on a true story.

Linda has served as President of The Henderson Writers Group. Las Vegas, and Facilitator of Sisters Writes, a read and critique group in Sisters, OR. She is a member of the Historical Novel Writers Society of North America, Women Writing the West, Sin City Writers Group and Sisters Writes.

Her non-fiction personal Essay, Katherine, won first place in the Writers of the Purple Sage writing contest. Her novel tease Homestead is published in Writer's Bloc 8, juried anthology of The Henderson Writer's Group, Las Vegas, NV. A longer non-fiction essay, Return To Utopia is found at www.storyhouse.org, an online journal, as part of their permanent collection (search by author name Linda Jones Weber or title). Her personal essays The Flying Trapeze, published in Writers Bloc 8, Ghost Story and The Ghost Who Hated Men And Loved Children, published in Paranormal Times, and other personal essays appear in various publications and on-line blogs, including Fishtrap Writing and the West.
She has a particular fondness for Historical Fiction and Biography. Her favorite authors are Ken Follett, Daphne Du Maurier, John Steinbeck, Donna Everhart, Amanda Skenandore, and Kristina McMorris.

Linda has two children, one stepchild, six grandchildren, two step grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She lives in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Sisters, Oregon with her husband, Dennis, his comfort animal, Jilly the dog, and Houdini the cat.

She loves to travel and has visited Austria, Germany, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Tahiti, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Belize, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Monaco, Andorra, Greece and the Greek Isles, Russia, Egypt, Jordan, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, where she lived for four months.