Available now:
The Ruby Mirror
& Other Essays
by Lisa Williams Kline
The Ruby Mirror is a lively, humorous and poignant collection of personal essays in which Lisa Williams Kline explores topics that preoccupy us for our entire lives -- religion, marriage, divorce, interfaith marriage, raising children, caring for elderly parents, and our own mortality.
Praise for The Ruby Mirror
Early in The Ruby Mirror, Lisa Kline puts words to the miracle that this book is. She writes that she is proud to be from her grandmother's family of storytellers. That's exactly who Lisa is: a superb storyteller. With humor, honesty, and compassion, she reveals the deepest truths about family connections and the power of love in its infinite variety. Once I started reading, I had no choice but to follow where these delightful essays led me.
-- Judy Goldman, author of Child: A Memoir
In her essay collection, THE RUBY MIRROR, Lisa Kline paints a bracingly honest portrait of a life well-lived. This is a writer at the top of her game, writing intimately and with an unfailing generosity of spirit about coming of age in the south, interfaith marriage, the challenges and transcendent joy of family, and the long shadow of mortality. Whether describing an unsettling encounter in the maternity ward with her ex-husband or dissecting the uncanny prophecies of her mother, Lisa Kline looks at the world around her and misses nothing. THE RUBY MIRROR is like catching up with an old friend who is telling you what really happened. Pure joy.
--Richard Dresser, author of It Happened Here
The essays in The Ruby Mirror shimmer with tenderness, joy and the love of family. Lisa Williams Kline addresses the complexities of interfaith marriage, depression and aging parents, all while balancing humor with poignant realism. Readers will fall in love with this collection and the author!
--Ann Campanella, author of Celiac Mom
In The Ruby Mirror, Lisa Williams Kline asks the question "So as I look back over our life ..., what do I see?" My answer: a life full of rich, deep relationships starting in childhood to the selfless caring of her parents through their deaths. I see a wife and devoted husband who support and love intensely. I see the tender raising of two daughters under the umbrella of a warm heart.
--Gilda Morina Syverson, author of My Father's Daughter, From Rome to Sicily
The Ruby Mirror
& Other Essays
by Lisa Williams Kline
The Ruby Mirror is a lively, humorous and poignant collection of personal essays in which Lisa Williams Kline explores topics that preoccupy us for our entire lives -- religion, marriage, divorce, interfaith marriage, raising children, caring for elderly parents, and our own mortality.
Praise for The Ruby Mirror
Early in The Ruby Mirror, Lisa Kline puts words to the miracle that this book is. She writes that she is proud to be from her grandmother's family of storytellers. That's exactly who Lisa is: a superb storyteller. With humor, honesty, and compassion, she reveals the deepest truths about family connections and the power of love in its infinite variety. Once I started reading, I had no choice but to follow where these delightful essays led me.
-- Judy Goldman, author of Child: A Memoir
In her essay collection, THE RUBY MIRROR, Lisa Kline paints a bracingly honest portrait of a life well-lived. This is a writer at the top of her game, writing intimately and with an unfailing generosity of spirit about coming of age in the south, interfaith marriage, the challenges and transcendent joy of family, and the long shadow of mortality. Whether describing an unsettling encounter in the maternity ward with her ex-husband or dissecting the uncanny prophecies of her mother, Lisa Kline looks at the world around her and misses nothing. THE RUBY MIRROR is like catching up with an old friend who is telling you what really happened. Pure joy.
--Richard Dresser, author of It Happened Here
The essays in The Ruby Mirror shimmer with tenderness, joy and the love of family. Lisa Williams Kline addresses the complexities of interfaith marriage, depression and aging parents, all while balancing humor with poignant realism. Readers will fall in love with this collection and the author!
--Ann Campanella, author of Celiac Mom
In The Ruby Mirror, Lisa Williams Kline asks the question "So as I look back over our life ..., what do I see?" My answer: a life full of rich, deep relationships starting in childhood to the selfless caring of her parents through their deaths. I see a wife and devoted husband who support and love intensely. I see the tender raising of two daughters under the umbrella of a warm heart.
--Gilda Morina Syverson, author of My Father's Daughter, From Rome to Sicily
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Eleanor Hill by Lisa Williams Kline
Winner of the North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award
Eleanor Hill by Lisa Williams Kline
Winner of the North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award
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Twelve-year-old Eleanor Hill knows that women in other places do more than hang laundry, tend gardens, and fry fish for dinner. But in Atlantic Grove, her isolated North Carolina village, most girls see nothing more in their futures than marriage to a fisherman and the meager existence that goes with it. Eleanor longs to experience the fast-changing world beyond Atlantic Grove -- she'd like to drive an automobile, see a picture show, and most of all, attend high school.
At last she has her chance. Without her papa's permission, Eleanor leaves home to live with her aunt and uncle in nearby New Bern. As she discovers the satisfactions of higher education, Eleanor also attracts the attentions of a handsome Italian immigrant boy and a prominent doctor's son. While spending her teenage years in New Bern, Eleanor begins to realize how valuable love and family are in her struggle for self-reliance. Set against the exhilarating backdrop of 1910's America, this engaging novel vividly portrays one girl's search for identity and experiences. Praise for Eleanor Hill
"Themes of family loyalty, friendship, and self-sufficiency are artfully woven through this delightful coming-of-age tale...Fans of Ann Rinaldi, Carol Matas, Isabelle Holland, and Kathryn Lasky will approve of Eleanor." - Voice of Youth Advocates |
"Twelve-year-old Eleanor dreams of escaping from her small North Carolina village and seeing the world. Although family and friends don't understand or support her desire for education and independence, she perseveres, and five years of travel bring her unexpected joys, challenges, and rewards of the heart. This engaging novel, set in the early 1900's is both an homage to Kline's grandmother and a timeless story of a young woman trying to balance tradition and family loyalty with her wished for happiness and fulfillment. Clear, descriptive prose, realistic dialogue, and well-researched historical details immerse readers in the times. Appealing, dimensional characters represent diverse beliefs and conflicts without stereotyping. That's particularly the case with likable, determined Eleanor, whose growth and changes are sympathetically portrayed. Notably unsentimental and more mature in its treatment of adolescent physical and emotional changes that many novels for the age group, this satisfying, engrossing read will appeal to fans of historical fiction.” -- Booklist
"Twelve-year-old Eleanor Hill lives with her widowed father and her fifteen-year-old sister, Lila, in a small, isolated fishing village on the North Carolina coast. It is 1912, and many new things are happening in the world. Eleanor is influenced by her new teacher, who adds to her longing to leave her hometown. She runs away to live with her aunt in a town with a movie theater and indoor plumbing. A trip to California to see her dying brother provides Eleanor with a number of new experiences and a broadened view of her family and herself. After returning to North Carolina she takes a job driving cars for a car dealer to earn money to help her family. This story of historical fiction is loosely based on the author's grandmother's life. Descriptions of life in the early 1900s will interest today's ready and help make the story realistic. The author uses letters from the characters to move the story along and explain plot events in a natural manner." -- Book Report (Starred Review)
"Eleanor yearns for bigger things than her North Carolina fishing village can offer, and with the encouragement of a progressive teacher, Miss Rosalie, Eleanor determines to find her 'chosen path' by pursuing her education. Set against the backdrop of World War I, the story spans Eleanor's adolescence, balancing her natural romantic urges and her desire to be an 'independent woman' with honesty and insight." -- The Horn Book
“Young readers, especially young girls, will delight in Lisa Williams Kline's first novel. Set on the coast of North Carolina in the midst of women's suffrage and World War I, Eleanor Hill is a book about life, love, and overcoming obstacles… I definitely recommend this book to those who are interested in women's rights, particularly in the women's suffrage movement. The story provides a new twist to using your life, making your own decisions, and living the life you make. Kline has a very strong narrative voice, and her character Eleanor Hill is a memorable one." -- Our State Magazine
For more information on Lisa's books, see her website:
"Twelve-year-old Eleanor Hill lives with her widowed father and her fifteen-year-old sister, Lila, in a small, isolated fishing village on the North Carolina coast. It is 1912, and many new things are happening in the world. Eleanor is influenced by her new teacher, who adds to her longing to leave her hometown. She runs away to live with her aunt in a town with a movie theater and indoor plumbing. A trip to California to see her dying brother provides Eleanor with a number of new experiences and a broadened view of her family and herself. After returning to North Carolina she takes a job driving cars for a car dealer to earn money to help her family. This story of historical fiction is loosely based on the author's grandmother's life. Descriptions of life in the early 1900s will interest today's ready and help make the story realistic. The author uses letters from the characters to move the story along and explain plot events in a natural manner." -- Book Report (Starred Review)
"Eleanor yearns for bigger things than her North Carolina fishing village can offer, and with the encouragement of a progressive teacher, Miss Rosalie, Eleanor determines to find her 'chosen path' by pursuing her education. Set against the backdrop of World War I, the story spans Eleanor's adolescence, balancing her natural romantic urges and her desire to be an 'independent woman' with honesty and insight." -- The Horn Book
“Young readers, especially young girls, will delight in Lisa Williams Kline's first novel. Set on the coast of North Carolina in the midst of women's suffrage and World War I, Eleanor Hill is a book about life, love, and overcoming obstacles… I definitely recommend this book to those who are interested in women's rights, particularly in the women's suffrage movement. The story provides a new twist to using your life, making your own decisions, and living the life you make. Kline has a very strong narrative voice, and her character Eleanor Hill is a memorable one." -- Our State Magazine
For more information on Lisa's books, see her website:
