In The Dream Bucket, Trudy Cameron, lives in an elaborate Mississippi home with her hypocritical father William, withdrawn mother Zoe, and mischievous older brother Billy Jack. It is the spring of 1909. The last session ever at Gravel Hill School comes to a close, as Trudy looks forward to her tenth birthday. She adores Papa until she hears him slap her mother for asking him where he hides his cash. Soon afterwards, Billy Jack tells Trudy that Papa ridicules her behind her back. On the last day of school, Papa gives the schoolmarm a noisy smack of a kiss, overheard by all the pupils in the one-room schoolhouse. All she has heard leaves her so angry she wishes Papa would die. When he accidentally sets fire to the family mansion and dies in the fire, she is not prepared for the shock. She believes her anger caused her father's death. Zoe also feels she caused William's death by prodding him to meet her demands. He's cautioned Zoe not to pry into his financial arrangements. He has withdrawn his money from the Taylorsburg bank because he distrusts the fraudulent bank president. She needles him to tell her where he stores his twenty-dollar gold pieces in case his life should end one day. Two men load William's body into a farm wagon. How will Zoe survive as a widow? The sudden horror causes her to forget who her children are. First Trudy and Billy Jack run after the death wagon, but they turn back to the pile of ashes, where they plan their future. On the day Papa died, they will milk the cows and begin making arrangements for the funeral. Trudy and Billy Jack make a pact never to leave the farm. Regaining her orientation, Zoe bounces back. She moves her family into a shack that needs so many repairs the sharecroppers have abandoned it. When it rains, they run with cooking pots from one leak to another. The kitchen floor has rotted into nonexistence. The cabin offers little protection from heat and cold, bears and rattlesnakes, or human predators. Samuel Benton, the Camerons' best friend, lives with his two children down the road. He tries to help Zoe, but she rejects him. She's busy harvesting the garden, milking the cows, sewing for hire, and caring for her children. She makes no plans for the future. In a hopeless situation, Trudy, Zoe, and Billy Jack fight outside forces to survive. The Bentons and the Camerons fill their bucket and empty it and fill it again. Sometimes in horror and sometimes in joy, Trudy Cameron always dreams big.
About the Author: I love to write, and I delight in hearing from you about my books. So far, the series, known as The Covington Chronicles, includes Secret Promise, The Courtship of Miss Loretta Larson, and The Dream Bucket. You may want to read them in the order listed, but you don't have to. Clay Lomakayu, a recognized actor and book narrator, has recorded The Dream Bucket, available at Amazon, Audible, and I-Tunes. Jodi Hockinson, an amazing book narrator, has recorded The Courtship of Miss Loretta Larson and is recording Secret Promise. The fourth book in the series will be Manuela Blayne, a short novel about The Dream Bucket characters and an Afro-American family. My latest book is Abi of Cyrene. It's a first century novel based on a reference to the mother of Rufus in the last chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. He sent a greeting to a woman he held in the same regard as a biological mother. She had two sons, Rufus and Alexander, and she was the wife of Simon. Abi is not her name in the Bible. It's a name I gave her because it means "her father" and she needed a relationship with a father image on earth and with her Heavenly Father. Because I've written and rewritten this book since 2009, I'm excited that I've finally finished it. The Kindle book is available. Sarah Zimmerman, an accomplished actress with a distinguished career who concentrates on producing audible books now, has recorded Abi of Cyrene. I began my life on a Mississippi farm south of Taylorsville and north of Hot Coffee. Yes, Hot Coffee is a real place. My great great grandparents lived on the spot where a store sits today. (Next year Hot Coffee is going to be featured in a movie, which will include some of my ancestors.) Our family spent their winter evenings playing games, reading, and conversing by the fireplace. My parents, two of the world's greatest storytellers, bequeathed a legacy of yarn spinning to their children and grandchildren. A widow living in Louisiana, mother, former teacher, and retired registered nurse, I love my writing life. My goal is to make you the reader have a strong emotional response that you will enjoy I always include a romance, even though my books are not typical romantic novels. Also, I want to touch the grief you have inside so you can release it. Sometimes I also hope you will laugh. Friend and message me on Facebook. Read my Collard Patch blog, http: //collardpatch.blogspot.com/, which is linked to my Amazon author's page.