When you grow up in trailer park poverty, you have to work hard to pull yourself out of it. Mary and Joe certainly did that, but each one did it in differently. Mary committed murder, while Joe started slowly and built his life around his wifes successful writing career. That worked well for him. Mary, on the other hand, who was the sensitive child, fell hard as life kicked her around. She made poor decisions right from the start and just couldnt seem to bounce back. So she eventually pulled herself up by the bootstraps and killed the culprit. And got away scot-free! R. E. Wilburn retired from the field of education and has relocated to Virginia. She earned her PhD from Fordham University, New York. Shes taught in elementary school and in the college classroom at Fordham University in New York. Being an assistant principal for years has taught her to be an observer and a listener to lifes stories. This has helped immeasurably in her writing career. She has written six other novels, two of which are published: In the Name of God the Merciful, and Lo, These Many Years. Dr. Wilburn has also written a college textbook titled Understanding the Preschooler.