A Matter of Choice (The Maria Series)

Murphy, Ella Rea

ISBN 10: 1502540061 / ISBN 13: 9781502540065

Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Mar2716030255382

Synopsis:

In A Matter of Choice it is now Christmas vacation; Maria has just left Bill, her first love, on a snow-covered train platform in Iowa and is traveling to Miami hoping to reconnect with her estranged mother who recently remarried. It is a bittersweet parting as Maria will miss Bill but is looking forward to improving her relationship with her mother. Soon after arriving in Miami, Maria meets George—a mysterious man who works for her stepfather in the State Department. He is worldly, passionate, handsome, and so exciting. Suddenly her thoughts of Bill are as far away as he is. All too soon Maria’s Christmas break comes to an end and she must leave the warm, gentle breezes and beautiful beaches of Florida to return to the frozen Midwest. Maria must make her choice. Who will she choose?

About the Author: Inspired by the adventures I had living on my grandfather’s ranch in a beautiful Wyoming valley, my first written stories evolved from my summer escapades with my male cousins. One of our favorite games was ‘hide and seek,’ on horseback. Somehow, I was always the hunted and learned very quickly how to evade and outwit my pursuers, as I raced ahead of them into canyons on my sure- footed Pinto pony, Betsy. My stories changed as I grew older and my attitude softened towards boys. I wrote about courageous cowboys saving their heroines from danger. I secretly, was always the heroine being saved. I was fortunate to have parents who enjoyed enhancing my classroom education with a variety of cultural events available in a large city. Unwittingly, I learned how to live in a more complicated world and my writing reflected my larger view. Becoming a teenager, in high school, my focus was two-fold, preparing for college and boyfriends. My stories always had the heroine dating the most popular boy in the class and guess who the heroine was? During those years, I also wrote stories, drawing on my experiences I had living with my sister, her veterinarian husband, their five children and the young farm boys who worked for my brother-in-law. Absorbing the farm culture, first hand, helped me create some of the characters in my books and showcase the values of courage and determination of Midwestern farmers. Because my father, as a physician, valued an education, as was expected, I applied and was accepted at Iowa State University several years after WWII. Although most of my courses were scientific in nature, all my electives were English or writing courses. During graduate school, I wrote a great deal to complete my master’s program in school psychology. Finally, my writing skills were truly honed over my twenty years as a teacher of special needs children, chronicling my students’ emotional and educational development for their parents, teachers and administration. Along with my own two children, my students taught me more than I ever taught them, with their playfulness and sense of humor. I drew on those memories of our many spirited conversations for the characters of the children in this series of books. Instead of memoirs, I chose to write, Maria’s Awakening, which was much more fun and still incorporates some of the history of that very challenging time, along with experiences of people I have known in my life.

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Matter of Choice (The Maria Series)
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: 2014
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: New
Edition: 2nd Edition