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Two Spoons of Bitter: A story of love, betrayal and redemption

Two Spoons of Bitter: A story of love, betrayal and redemption

by Sonja S. Mongar
Two Spoons of Bitter: A story of love, betrayal and redemption
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Two Spoons of Bitter: A story of love, betrayal and redemption

Two Spoons of Bitter: A story of love, betrayal and redemption

by Sonja S. Mongar

Overview

*WINNER of the 2019 Royal Palm Literary Award for Literary Fiction & Finalist Wishing Shelf Awards*

Ella Donovan can't wait to see her hapless past and her bleak Midwest hometown in her rearview mirror. She arrives in a charming Southern city of colorful bridges and gleaming beaches for her dream job working with teen addicts. But not all is as it seems in a place where the Confederate flag still flies over the downtown courthouse. Nearly unhinged by a boss who wants her to fail, Southern gentleman who aren't so gentlemanly, and a corrupt, racist and homophobic social service system beset by an escalating global pandemic, Ella struggles to find her footing. Just when she thinks she's mastered it all, a fateful phone call unleashes a Pandora's box of devastating family secrets - driving her into the arms of a forbidden romantic liaison. If not for fierce Jo Gaetano, her wise-cracking coworker and new best friend, Ella just might break under pressure. Will Ella be able to redeem the past and find hope and renewal amongst the wreckage of her losses and unfortunate choices? Based on true events.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780692055243
Publisher: Paradise Alley Publishing
Publication date: 06/23/2018
Pages: 354
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Sonja S. Mongar, MFA - Award Winning author... A product of railroaders, ranchers, moonshiners and suffragettes, Mongar, was born in Montana - at the foot of the Bitterroot mountain range - in the Clark Fork River Valley. Yearning for greener grass, her parents made stakes in four states and two provinces before landing permanently in swamplands of Florida when she was a teen. But the traveling blues was already in her blood, so she kept on movin' - the marvelous adventures and shattering mishaps imprinting themselves upon the landscapes, characters, and dramas of her imagination. There will always be a train, a lost highway and a character adrift in her stories. Educator, freelance journalist, memoirist, songwriter and blues harmonica player, Two Spoons of Bitter is Mongar's first novel and has won multiple awards. A former tenured professor of English from the University of Puerto Rico specializing in creative writing, she currently mentors new writers in the Western Connecticut State Low Residency MFA in Creative and Professional Writing program. She divides her time between the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Coastal Florida where she bears witness to the magical unfolding of her four grandchildren's lives. Projects underway: Riders of the Dust - a 1920s Western screenplay inspired by her fierce Montana grandmothers.

Table of Contents

Contents

Prologue ............................................................... 1

PART ONE

1. Man in the Red Ford Bronco ......................... 11

2. Port of the Sun ............................................... 16

3. Damnyankee .................................................. 21

4.The Interview ................................................27

5. Alavera ........................................................... 32

6. Twentee-Two-Five ......................................... 37

PART TWO

7. Jo’s Kitchen..................................................... 45

8. Nemesis .......................................................... 54

9. The Southern Cross ........................................ 64

10. What Comes Around................................... 72

11. Little Miss Crisco ........................................ 76

12. Lothario With Head Trauma....................... 81

PART THREE

13. A-Team ........................................................ 91

14. Twice the Sweet............................................ 99

15. Chomp in the Swamp ................................ 105

16. Burn One Down ........................................ 112

17. Candy Pants ............................................... 118

18. Twice the Bitter .......................................... 123

PART FOUR

19. Abandonado ............................................... 133

20. The Majestic ............................................... 137

21. Blackbird .................................................... 142

22. Pandora’s Box ............................................. 152

PART FIVE

23. Crack Shacks.............................................. 165

24. Coffee-Mate............................................... 173

25. Malcolm, Martin, Karl & Friedrich............ 172

26. Arlin ........................................................... 190

27. Ashes to Ashes ........................................... 198

28. Dirty Laundry ............................................ 203

29. Samurai ...................................................... 209

30. The Way It Is .............................................. 214

PART SIX

31. Bitter Fruit ................................................. 225

32. Duende....................................................... 228

33. Rescue II .................................................... 231

34. Thirty-eight Special .................................... 237

35. Dixie Chicken Shack.................................. 241

36. The Palomino ............................................. 250

37. DWBWCC................................................ 255

38. Radioactive Butterfly .................................. 264

39. Morning After............................................ 268

PART SEVEN

40. Of Ancient Lullabies.................................. 279

41. Mirage ........................................................ 287

42. Amaziah Grace........................................... 293

43. Cannoli....................................................... 299

44. Step Nine ................................................... 310

45. First Light .................................................. 320

46. Bittersweet.................................................. 324

Epilogue........................................................... 329

Acknowledgments............................................ 338

About the Author ............................................ 340

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