Amy Hill Hearth

On September 25, 1995, Dr. Annie Elizabeth (Bessie) Delany died at home in Mount Vernon, New York, marking the end of not only an extraordinary life, but of a century-long relationship with her cherished older sister, Sarah. Now, after a quiet year of mourning and reflection, and inspired by Bessie's beloved garden, Sarah has composed a collection of warm memories and delightful anecdotes, illustrated throughout with paintings of Bessie's favorite flowers.

Sarah Louise "Sadie" Delany and A. Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany, now 105 and 103 years old, took the reading public by storm with their surprise bestseller, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. Since then, people all over the world have been writing and asking them questions. Now they offer their fans a treasury of grandmotherly good sense: memorable aphorisms, engaging anecdotes, rules for managing money, practical advice on staying active in old age, and some favorite recipes, too. It's a book filled with the secrets of living well, from two women who did it for more than a century.

xiii, 210 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm890L Lexile

The Mistletoe Inn by Richard Paul Evans Kim Rossi dreams of becoming a romance writer, even though her own romances have been disappointing and her writing has brought her only rejection letters. But the star speaker at a writer’s conference at Vermont’s Mistletoe Inn will be the author who inspired her to write in the first place. Maybe the time has come for Kim to follow her dream. Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County by Amy Hill Hearth Dora Witherspoon is called back to Naples, Florida, when her ex-husband’s development plans threaten to destroy her hometown. Can the Collier County Women’s Literary Society save the Everglades? You bet they can. Settle in to meet a cast of colorful characters in a tale both hilarious and heartwarming.

Amy Hill Hearth shares the story of Norman and Amalie Petranker Salsitz, a couple who survived the Holocaust in Poland by posing as Christians, and discusses the friendship that developed between the Salsitzes and Hearth, who was motivated to write the book in part by her uneasy feelings about being of German descent.

Sarah Louise Delany was born September 19, 1889; she was a calm, gentle child her family called “Sweet Sadie.” Her little sister, Annie Elizabeth, was born two years later, on September 3, 1891. Bessie was Just the opposite of Sadie. She was so bossy that she was called “Queen Bess.” The sisters had eight brothers and sisters. They grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the campus of Saint Augstine’s College. Their mother was a teacher, and their father was a minister and vice-principal of the school. This is the story of the childhood of these two fascinating women who grew up in a time of change when life was often not easy for African Americans. Both their parents encouraged their children to “reach high”: to work hard in school and to aim for the stars. And reach high they did. Sadie became the first Black person to teach domestic science on the high school level in New York City, and Bessie earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree and was the second Black woman licensed to practice dentistry in the city of New York. Children and adults alike will enjoy this story that gives us a look at our history and provides inspiration to all those who read it.

In 1854, a young African American woman named Elizabeth Jennings won a major victory against a New York City streetcar company, a first step in the process of desegregating public transportation in Manhattan. This illuminating and important piece of the history of the fight for equal rights, illustrated with photographs and archival material from the period, is for fans of Phillip Hoose and Steve Sheinkin.

"In this sequel to Hearth's debut novel, MISS DREAMSVILLE AND THE COLLIER COUNTY WOMEN'S LITERARY SOCIETY, the characters reunite one year later (late summer 1964) to fight a large development along the tidal river where book club member Robbie-Lee grew up and where his mother, Dolores Simpson, a former stripper turned alligator hunter, still lives in a fishing shack. The developer is Darryl Norwood, ex-husband of narrator Dora Witherspoon, who returns to Collier County to assist in the battle. An old land deed, the discovery that one of the key characters has been using a false name, and a court hearing in which Jackie steals the show are just a few of the highlights. New characters include a young lawyer from Atlanta who is afraid to visit the Everglades, and the Ghost of Seminole Joe. Just as MISS DREAMSVILLE explored the ways that we can find a sense of home in other people, Hearth's latest novel shows how closely tied home is to a sense of place and the conflicts that can arise when that becomes threatened. For Darryl Harmon, the river is a place ripe for development. For narrator Dora Witherspoon (known as the Turtle Lady because she rescues Everglades "snappers") it's a place that belongs to the critters. And for Dolores Simpson, former stripper, it's a place to hide from the world"--

In "Strong Medicine" Speaks, Hearth turns her talent for storytelling to a Native American matriarch presenting a powerful account of Indian life. Born and raised in a nearly secret part of New Jersey that remains Native ancestral land, Marion "Strong Medicine" Gould is an eighty-five-year-old Elder in her Lenni-Lenape tribe and community. Taking turns with the author as the two women alternate voices throughout this moving book, Strong Medicine tells of her ancestry, tracing it back to the first Native peoples to encounter the Europeans in 1524, through the strife and bloodshed of America's early years, up to the twentieth century and her own lifetime, decades colored by oppression and terror yet still lifted up by the strength of an enduring collective spirit. This genuine and delightful telling gives voice to a powerful female Elder whose dry wit and charming humor will provide wisdom and inspiration to readers from every background.