Lorraine Devon Wilke

Hysterical Love Lorraine Devon Wilke

Publisher Marketing: Dan McDowell, a thirty-three-year-old portrait photographer happily set to marry his beloved Jane, is stunned when a slip of the tongue about an "ex-girlfriend overlap" of years earlier throws their pending marriage into doubt and him onto the street. Or at least into the second bedroom of their next-door neighbor, Bob, where Dan is sure it won't be long. It's long. His sister, Lucy, further confuses matters with her "soul mate theory" and its suggestion that Jane might not be his... soul mate, that is. But the tipping point comes when his father is struck ill, sparking a chain of events in which Dan discovers a story written by this man he doesn't readily understand, but who, it seems, has long harbored an unrequited love from decades earlier. Incapable of fixing his own romantic dilemma, Dan becomes fixated on finding this woman of his father's dreams and sets off for Oakland, California, on a mission fraught with detours and semi-hilarious peril. Along the way he meets the beautiful Fiona, herbalist and flower child, who assists in his quest while quietly and erotically shaking up his world. When, against all odds, he finds the elusive woman from the past, the ultimate discovery of how she truly fit into his father's life leaves him staggered, as does the reality of what's been stirred up with Fiona. But it's when he returns home to yet another set of unexpected truths that he's shaken to the core, ultimately forced to face who he is and just whom he might be able to love. Lorraine Devon Wilke, author of the acclaimed debut novel, After The Sucker Punch, brings her deft mix of humor and drama to a whip-smart narrative told from the point of view of its male protagonist. Hysterical Love explores themes of family, commitment, balancing creativity, facing adulthood, and digging deep to understand the beating heart of true love. Cover design by Grace Amandes @ www.gracemandes.com Cover photograph by Lorraine Devon Wilke Contributor Bio:  Devon Wilke, Lorraine Lorraine Devon Wilke-writer, photographer, singer/songwriter-started early as a creative hyphenate. First, there was music and theater, next came rock & roll, then a leap into film when a feature she co-wrote (To Cross the Rubicon) was produced by a Seattle film company, opening doors in a variety of creative directions. In the years following, she wrote for and performed on theater stages, developed her photography skills, and accrued a library of well-received feature screenplays. She kept her hand in music throughout-songwriting, recording, performing-leading to the fruition of the longtime goal of recording an original album, Somewhere On the Way, garnered stellar reviews and can be found at CDBaby and iTunes. She continues with music whenever she can (which, she maintains, is never, ever, enough!); a collection of her recorded material is available at SoundCloud. Devon Wilke's current life is split between Playa del Rey and Ferndale, California, and is shared with her husband, Pete Wilke, an entertainment and securities attorney, her son, engineer and web designer Dillon Wilke, and stepdaughter, educational administrator Jennie Wilke Willens and family. She curates and manages both her fine art photography site and personal blog (www.rockpapermusic.com), is a regular contributor at The Huffington Post, and writes a monthly column for the award-winning northern California newspaper, The Ferndale Enterprise. Both her debut novel, After The Sucker Punch, and her short story, "She Tumbled Down," were 2014 publishing successes she hopes you'll enjoy, and she invites you to access her essays and journalistic pieces @ www. Contently.com. You can follow her journey with this and all her books at her publishing website, www. AfterTheSuckerPunch.com. Contact: info@lorrainedevonwilke.com Information/links: www.lorrainedevonwilke.com