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Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
In 1983, two outcasts are brought together by circumstance: nine-year-old Michael Nygaard, a Minnesota farm boy transplanted to suburban Chicago after his father dies, and Julia Parnell, a woman trying to begin again after a failed attempt to live openly. Michael doesn’t understand the new people around him: the wild girl across the street nurtures their friendship and then undermines it; her alcoholic father rockets between affability and rage; the bullies at school taunt him; and he adores his teacher, Miss Parnell, but knows she’s living a false life. When Julia’s secret is exposed, she faces a choice: accept herself for who she is or deny her true nature. Meanwhile, Michael must also choose whether to simply endure his new situation or fight back. Coming of age will take bravery from these two lost souls—and if they can’t find the strength to change, neither will have the life they long for.
Product Details
- Publisher: She Writes Press (April 22, 2014)
- Length: 236 pages
- ISBN13: 9781938314599
Raves and Reviews
“Michael, a boy rejected by his schoolmates, and Julia, a schoolteacher confused about her sexual identity, form a lovely, sympathetic bond in Jessica Null Vealitzek's fine first novel. ;The Rooms Are Filled ;is the story of their struggle to survive in a suburban world full of prejudice and hostility, set against the backdrop of a natural world, which we, like Michael, have lost but still can learn from. Vealitzek writes from the heart. I read this tale of anguish, and of triumph, from cover to cover without stopping. You will too.”
—Stephen Wetta, author of If Jack's in Love
“The Rooms Are Filled is a tender novel about ;the beauty and sadness of ;those simply learning to live out loud. An ode to truth, the departed who are never truly gone, and the resilient human heart.”
—Susan Henderson, author of Up from the Blue
“As you read about the seemingly quiet, Midwestern lives of the people of ;The Rooms Are Filled, you will suddenly realize that you desperately want them to get everything they're hoping for.”
—John Warner, Chicago Tribune columnist and author of The Funny Man
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