Madge's Novels
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Purchase on Amazon.com The Visiting Girl
The Visiting Girl is a novel inspired by the young life of movie star Katharine Hepburn's mother, also called Kate, who had to fight her wealthy uncle/guardian to honor the terms of her mother's will, which stipulated that Kate and her sisters attend Bryn Mawr College shortly after its founding. Kate became a leader in the women's suffrage movement. Here's my imaginary take on it:
Upon graduating from Bryn Mawr, class of 1901, Lily Paxton finds herself out of funds and at loose ends. With no immediate family, not raised to work, and without a prospective husband in sight, she becomes a “visiting girl,” going from home to home among her married friends in Philadelphia, organized by her best friend and college classmate Caroline Crawford.
After a year and a half, the visiting circuit pales and soon becomes impossible. Lily disappears one day while staying with Caroline and her family, leaving a note saying she is off to an adventure out West, thanking Caroline for everything, and not to worry about her. Lily keeps to herself that she is three months pregnant and has left Philadelphia with a man she barely knows and who is not the baby’s father.
Twenty years later Lily writes to Caroline from Portland, Oregon, where she is dying of leukemia, asking Caroline to come to her in her final days. Caroline, widowed by now, leaps at the opportunity for an adventure of her own and to reconcile with her long-lost friend.
The two women have a joyous reunion, but Caroline soon discovers that Lily has a hidden agenda which, if not handled with supreme care, threatens to destroy both their families.
The major events of the time--the Great War, Prohibition, the Spanish flu pandemic, and the fight for women's suffrage--all factor into the story as they affect the fictional lives of Lily and Caroline.
The Visiting Girl is a novel inspired by the young life of movie star Katharine Hepburn's mother, also called Kate, who had to fight her wealthy uncle/guardian to honor the terms of her mother's will, which stipulated that Kate and her sisters attend Bryn Mawr College shortly after its founding. Kate became a leader in the women's suffrage movement. Here's my imaginary take on it:
Upon graduating from Bryn Mawr, class of 1901, Lily Paxton finds herself out of funds and at loose ends. With no immediate family, not raised to work, and without a prospective husband in sight, she becomes a “visiting girl,” going from home to home among her married friends in Philadelphia, organized by her best friend and college classmate Caroline Crawford.
After a year and a half, the visiting circuit pales and soon becomes impossible. Lily disappears one day while staying with Caroline and her family, leaving a note saying she is off to an adventure out West, thanking Caroline for everything, and not to worry about her. Lily keeps to herself that she is three months pregnant and has left Philadelphia with a man she barely knows and who is not the baby’s father.
Twenty years later Lily writes to Caroline from Portland, Oregon, where she is dying of leukemia, asking Caroline to come to her in her final days. Caroline, widowed by now, leaps at the opportunity for an adventure of her own and to reconcile with her long-lost friend.
The two women have a joyous reunion, but Caroline soon discovers that Lily has a hidden agenda which, if not handled with supreme care, threatens to destroy both their families.
The major events of the time--the Great War, Prohibition, the Spanish flu pandemic, and the fight for women's suffrage--all factor into the story as they affect the fictional lives of Lily and Caroline.
Purchase on Amazon.com Paying the Price
Maui Realtor Laura McDaniel has finally gotten her life on an even keel after a divorce and the disappearance of her teenage daughter Annie. When her favorite customers want to purchase a glamorous For Sale by Owner property, Laura's instincts warn her this will be the most difficult sale of her real estate career...and she's right.
When Annie unexpectedly returns to Maui, distraught and pregnant, then flees again, Laura faces the daunting prospect of raising her grandchild alone while trying to succeed in an all-consuming profession. Madge wrote it as she lived it: the good, the bad, and the zany.
Paying the Price received the coveted Honolulu Advertiser's Ka Palapala Po'okela Reader's Choice Award from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association in 2006.
When Annie unexpectedly returns to Maui, distraught and pregnant, then flees again, Laura faces the daunting prospect of raising her grandchild alone while trying to succeed in an all-consuming profession. Madge wrote it as she lived it: the good, the bad, and the zany.
Paying the Price received the coveted Honolulu Advertiser's Ka Palapala Po'okela Reader's Choice Award from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association in 2006.
Purchase on Amazon.com Buyers Are Liars
As Maui Realtor Laura McDaniel gets to know her new elderly client Bessie Carter, she realizes Bessie's memory lapses and bizarre behavior are more than "senior moments." With no family left on the island to help, Laura becomes increasingly involved in Bessie's downhill slide into Alzheimer's disease, while trying to sell her house.
As she struggles to do her best for Bessie, a charming Frenchman strolls into Laura's life, but neither Maurice nor his oceanfront condominium purchase are as advertised.
Once again, Madge Walls shows us the fictionalized drama and humor of her life as a Realtor on Maui. She grew up in Honolulu and raised her children on Maui, the island she loves best and writes about with true authenticity.
As she struggles to do her best for Bessie, a charming Frenchman strolls into Laura's life, but neither Maurice nor his oceanfront condominium purchase are as advertised.
Once again, Madge Walls shows us the fictionalized drama and humor of her life as a Realtor on Maui. She grew up in Honolulu and raised her children on Maui, the island she loves best and writes about with true authenticity.