Dahlonega
Literary Festival
An Annual Celebration of Readers, Writers, and Books
Erica Witsell
Born in Maine but raised in Florida, Erica Witsell lived in Connecticut, California, Italy and Ecuador before settling in the mountains of western North Carolina in 2003. A graduate of Wesleyan University and the University of California, Berkley, she taught high school for over ten years and now teaches English as a new language in Asheville. Her debut novel, Give, won the gold IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for excellence in independent publishing. Witsell loves languages, bicycling and dance, and her favorite time of day is "book time," when she piles on the couch with her three children to read.
Visit her online at www.ericawitsell.com.
Give
Every summer, Jessie and Emma leave their suburban home and fly north, to Baymont. Nestled among Medocino's golden hills, with ponies to love and endless acres to explore, Baymont should be a child's paradise. But Baymont belongs to Laurel, the girls' birth mother, whose heedless parenting and tainted judgment cast a long shadow over the sisters' summers -- and their lives.
Caught in a web of allegiances, the girls learn again and again that every loyalty has it price, and that even forgiveness can take unexpected turns. Years later, when her mother asked her older daughter for the ultimate gift, Jessie must decide just how much to give in the name of love.
Called a "striking debut" by Shelf Awareness and "a hidden gem" by Georgia Public Broadcasting, Give is the story of one family's troubled quest to redeem the mistakes of the past and a testament to the bonds of sisterhood.
