Dorie and Me

About the Book

When young Chris Dutton and his mother Dorie strolled into a pawnshop in Idaho Falls to kill a few lonely hours, they had no way to know that the used trumpet Chris bought and the second-hand L.C. Smith typewriter Dorie proudly carried away would eventually change their lives forever. Chris' father, Ross Dutton, was determined to reach the top rung of Ace Corporation's ladder by constantly agreeing to relocate whenever and wherever the big wheels at home office dictated. By the time his father was transferred from the Far West to the Deep South, Chris and Dorie had learned the bitter lesson that the only way to avoid the pain of saying good-bye to places and people was not to say hello. While Ross basked in success by complacently accepting the Southern way of life, Chris and Dorie turned to the trumpet and the typewriter to help them bridge the gap of loneliness they fell into each time Ross took another step up the corporate ladder by complacently accepting the cultural and political chaos which was taking place in the South in the early 1960's. Dorie privately retained her personal beliefs while advising Chris to, "When in Rome, eat Spaghetti."

The emotional wall which Dorie and Chris constructed around themselves began to crumble when Chris and his trumpet were drafted by the school principal to form a six-boy band and Dorie again got out her L.C. Smith typewriter and resumed working on a manuscript she had begun writing in Idaho. "It's just a simple little love story," she called it.

When the "simple little love story" was published, its words spread across Dixie like kudzu vines. Violence erupted. Blood was shed. Lives were forever changed.

About the Author

Author Liz Hamlin has written many books, including two mainstream novels, The Women on Country Club Drive and The Women in No Man's Land; two contemporary histories, Dorie and Me and I Remember Valentine; and one suspense novel, The Woman Next Door (subtitled Where's Miss Mary?). Two of Liz's works have been published in Germany and France.

I Remember Valentine was selected by the American Library Association as one of the best Young Adult novels of 1987; Kirkus Reviews calls the novel "poignant, nostalgic, and affectionately moving." It was once optioned by United Artists, and is presently in the hands of an experienced script writer. Dorie and Me was one of the six finalists in the official EPPIE-2004 historical category.

Liz earned her Masters degree from Goddard College in Vermont, and taught in New Jersey for several years. Her teaching background provided ample material for writing a play, Faculty Room, and a contemporary novel, Little Mothers, which realistically portrays five middle-school girls who have nothing in common other than being very young and very pregnant.

When not writing, Liz is a freelance editor. She edited and helped write a non-fiction book, The Intangible Terror, which relates the life story of a victim of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She has served as President and Vice President of the Eastern Shore Writer's Association, and is a member of the International Women Writers Guild.