#WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD CRACKED#

Her sister decided to move on after those four books, but Susan was totally addicted. Then Susan and her sister co-authored four novels, none of which were published. That admission led to Susan editing her sister's work (as the older sister, Susan was never short of opinions to share). Then, her younger sister admitted that she'd been writing, secretly of course.

#WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD CRACKED#

Susan has always been fascinated with words-those of you who catch yourself reading the dictionary when you cracked it open to look up mesopelagic you just might have a writer hiding inside you, too. This must be genetic, because her father and now her son, both hated school, but are somehow addicted to books.įor much of her young life, even those exhausting years when her children were young and Susan worked in her previous profession (yes, the rumor is true, she was a dental hygienist) she was an avid reader. Instead, she was born with an incredible love for books. Unlike so many writers, Susan Crandall did not emerge from the womb with a pen and paper in hand and a fully formed story in her mind. Currently-lives in Noblesville, Indiana.Awards-RITA Award for Best First Book two.She sees for the first time life as it really is-as she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be. The trio embarks on a road trip that will change Starla’s life forever. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. And her family will be whole and perfect. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star.

She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. Starla’s daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of “Lord, give me strength,” is the nearest thing to family Starla has. Starla hasn’t seen her momma since she was three-that’s when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s Mississippi home.

Whistling past the graveyard