COMING JANUARY 31, 2025!!

Coerced by her abusive boyfriend, 15-year-old Leanne Ellsworth
abandons her baby on a stranger’s porch. Devastated, she flees
the relationship and sets out to reclaim her daughter with the help
of her long-suffering mom Vinnie and Mary Beth Coggins, who
found the baby on her porch. As she struggles to get her daughter
back, Leanne finds a strength she never knew she possessed.

                    This is a moving coming-of-
                    age story about poverty, lack
                    of education, and a young
                    woman’s struggle to survive
                    in a harsh world.
   – GP GOTTLIEB, author of the
                            Whipped and Sipped
                            Mystery Series

                     Leanne Ellsworth is an
                     unlikely heroine: painfully
                     naïve, stubborn, and
                     self-centered in the ways
                     of any fifteen-year-old.
                     But she overcomes both
                     fear and hopelessness
                     when faced with an abusive
                     man and a gauntlet of
                     institutional hurdles…
                     You will remember Leanne.
       – RHONDA RILEY, author of
                                 The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope

                     A captivating novel – gripping,
                     suspenseful… I was swept
                     right into Leanne’s world,
                     anguishing at her mistakes and
                     cheering as she kept struggling
                     to make a life for herself and
   her child.
                                 – NANCY HAYES KILGORE,
                                   author of Bitter Magic

                      Her characters jump off the page
                      and stay with you long after you
                      put down this well-written book.
                      Ultimately, Leanne’s story is one
                      of how hope, kindness, and
                      determination can change lives.
                                  – ABIGAIL CUTTER, author of
                                 The Last of What I Am

LAUNCH PARTY!
(You’re invited)

February 2, 2025 3 – 5PM

Matheson History Museum
513 East University Avenue
Gainesville, Florida

Book sales – Author reading
Coffee, wine, homemade cookies

Since the novel involves domestic violence,
we’ll welcome donations to
Peaceful Paths domestic violence agency,
serving Alachua, Bradford, and Union counties

Dreaming the Marsh

South of Opakulla, along the straight gray strip of 226, between the “Guns” sign and Missitucknee, stretches the Marsh, old as time. Once it was an ocean, home to fish and the sliding shadows of sharks. Then the ocean fell away, and the sharks left their fierce teeth behind. Rain turned the salt lakes to fresh, ran creeks across the land, seeped down through the lime rock, cut and filled great caverns underground. Grasses, brush, trees and vines grew up and steamed in the Florida sun. Camels grazed in the grasslands; mastodons splashed in the shallow lakes. Millennia melted away, and children playing in the snaky scrub, slapping mosquitoes on their damp faces, found the ancient bones and told stories of giants in the Marsh.

The Marsh is full of stories; the Marsh is full of magic…

Dreaming the Marsh

South of Opakulla, along the straight gray strip of 226 between the “Guns” sign and Missitucknee, stretches the Marsh, old as time. Once it was an ocean, home to fish and the sliding shadows of sharks. Then the ocean fell away, and the sharks left their fierce teeth behind. Rain turned the salt lakes to fresh, ran creeks across the land, seeped down through the lime rock, cut and filled great caverns underground. Grasses, brush, trees and vines grew up and steamed in the Florida sun. Camels grazed in the grasslands; mastodons splashed in the shallow lakes. Millenia melted away, and children playing in the snaky scrub, slapping mosquitoes on their damp faces, found the ancient bones and told stories of giants in the Marsh.

The Marsh is full of stories; the Marsh is full of magic…

         A captivating novel –
         gripping, suspenseful
         …I was swept right
         into Leanne’s world,
         anguishing at her
         mistakes and cheering
         as she kept struggling
         to make a life for
         herself and her baby.
             NANCY HAYES KILGORE
             Author of Bitter Magic

          Her characters jump off
          the page and stay with
          you long after you put
          down this well-written
          book. Ultimately, Leanne’s
          story is one of how hope,
          kindness, and
          determination can change
         lives.
              ABIGAIL CUTTER, author
          of The Last of What i Am

Meet the Author

Elizabeth McCulloch was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lived in New England, the Midwest, Canada, and the South, before putting down roots and finding her home in Gainesville, Florida, almost forty years ago. Previously a lawyer, then a teacher, she has had children of various stripes: one born, two foster, one step, and the granddaughter she is now raising with her husband.

Photo courtesy of Adrienne Fletcher Photography

Meet the Author

Elizabeth McCulloch was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lived in New England, the Midwest, Canada, and the South, before putting down roots and finding her home in Gainesville, Florida, almost forty years ago. Previously a lawyer, then a teacher, she has had children of various stripes: one born, two foster, one step, and the granddaughter she is now raising with her husband.