By DeAnn Lubell Photographer: Kathy Rappaport
There is nothing more intellectually satisfying than learning about an impactful moment from yesteryear through a well-written, dramatic piece of historical fiction. Joanne Hardy has skillfully accomplished these feats with her historical fiction novels.
Joanne has stayed true to the historic facts and people of the time while creating believable characters to love and hate, cheer and boo, and laugh and cry over. To read Joanne’s stories is like a virtual reality experience. One can feel the cold, feel the pain, feel the joy, feel the anguish, and feel the horrible consequences of blind hate. I couldn’t put these books down. Her novels are a must for those who enjoy history conveyed in a good tale.
Joanne’s love of history and genealogy has found expression in her three works of historical fiction. Her Civil War novel The Girl in the Butternut Dress won Honorable Mention in the National League of American Pen Women’s Fiction Contest. Random Truths, the second historical, showcases the “have nots” becoming the “haves” in a small town during an oil boom. The most recent novel, ABANDONED, is a two-generational family saga shaped by the rise of railroads, the Civil War, and the Women’s Suffrage movement.
She received Daughters of the American Revolution’s National Recognition award for “Women in the Arts.” She has covered community events for the Desert Sun Newspaper for 13 years and has served on the boards of the National League of American Pen Women, The Palm Springs Writers Guild, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Colonial Dames. A retired elementary teacher and history teacher, she participated in the UCLA Writers Program.
“Nothing inspires one to write more than to read a really good book,” said Joanne. “I have books that I fell in love with which are underlined, highlighted, and otherwise marked up with comments to myself about the excellence of the author in handling a scene, dialogue, or character. The second thing that inspires me is to hear an unusual or striking human drama. I think to myself, what a great idea for a story.”
Joanne’s books are available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle. Contact Joanne at hohojo@earthlink.net 760-340-2598
