Clara's Story

by Doreen Perrine

Claire’s passion for the New York art scene is overshadowed by her fascination with a quirky—and stunning—Italian artist, Isabelle. The only thing bolder than Isabelle’s paintings is her flirting and, try as she might, Claire can’t shake the charming girl from her mind—and heart. Like a new world explorer, Claire breaks away from a nagging, uptown mother and her nearly-estranged downtown father and journeys across an ocean and cultures in search of life and love.

246 pages, Nook

First published August 5, 2011

About the author

From the author's website: Most of my characters appear in dreams so that my mother believed they spoke to, or through, me to tell their stories. Essential to my writing is a connection to character.

Given my childhood fascination with the intense people of Dickens’s novels and a lifelong love of theater, this jives with the drama of my stories. Story and character are interlaced and I write to give voice to invisible lives that might, otherwise, get overlooked.

Beyond my being a sucker for a happy (or happier) ending, I hope to portray my characters as everyday heroes with dynamic inner lives. Delving into who inspires my stories, becomes the flesh and blood of my writing.

From the publisher's website: Doreen Perrine has been published in various anthologies and literary ezines including The Copperfield Review, Lacuna, Freya's Bower, Raving Dove, Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly, Sinister Wisdom, Lesbian Connection, Queer and Catholic, Gay Flash Fiction, Lesbian Memoirs, Read These LipsQueer Collection. Doreen's plays have been performed at Here Arts Center, WOW Café, Under St. Marks Theatre, and Manhattan Theatre Source in New York City.