Plum Jelly

About the Book

This modern gothic tale is set in the present in a small central Wisconsin town where Cara Bow Eden Keck’s life is on hold. Her goal of becoming a PhD chemist is interrupted by an unplanned pregnancy. She feels trapped in a small Wisconsin town, in a strange house, and in a loveless marriage with her clueless husband, Kelwyn, and the unwanted child, Polly. Her cat, Mewmew, is an innocent observer of the ongoing strife. There is enmity between the mother and the child who behaves in torturous ways toward her mother daily—often with suggestions of the supernatural. This drives Cara Bow to thoughts of murder via poison extracted from plum seeds. Kind fate intervenes, and Cara Bow is at last free to pursue her way forward.

About the Author

Jean Bell is a graduate of St. Norbert College in DePere Wisconsin. She did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin on the Green Bay campus, majoring in music performance and minoring in speech and drama. She is a weekly participant in the Monday Sand Castle Writers forum. After a stint of ten years in Tulsa OK, teaching and serving as Fine Arts Coordinator at Holland Hall, a private day school, she moved to Oak Park, IL. There she served as president of McDowell Artists Association, producing, editing, and directing plays by new playwrights. She vacations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she was born. Longtime residents refer to the area as God’s Country. This location was the inspiration for her first novel, A Loved Place. Little changes in this area over the years. Plum Jelly. her second novel, also takes place in the Midwest. She enjoys writing short stories. Her short story, The Silver Stream, was recently published in Voices—a literary journal. She now resides in Ogden Dunes, IN, on Lake Michigan’s shore. In her spare time, Jean likes to photograph the ever shifting sand dunes and cheer the ongoing restoration of native flora.