Six String

by Stefan Bolz

Jennifer Dalton dreamed of being a singer for as long as she could remember. The dream has kept her alive throughout a childhood mired in poverty in a broken and abusive home. When her younger brother dies and her mother takes refuge in alcohol, the emotional toll becomes unbearable. One morning she runs away, taking with her the one thing she owns—her beloved six string guitar. This is the story of a girl finding herself, alone in the good and the bad, the friends she makes, and a choice that could rob her of everything she's won.

252 pages, Paperback

Published February 12, 2017

About the author

Born and raised in the Main River Valley in Germany, Stefan came to the U.S. in 1996 where he settled in upstate New York. He grew up on German poetry, soccer, Nutella, and American music. His love of writing began to surface in 1999 (yes, he was thinking about the Prince song while he wrote this sentence). He studied screen writing for five years during which time he wrote a bunch of scripts (one of them came dangerously close to being optioned). After that, there was a foray into poetry and essays on life and existential questions. That brought him to his first novel, The Three Feathers, a fable about a young rooster who follows a dream to search for the meaning of life and finds it in the friendship to a wolf and a war horse. While writing it, he realized that writing has been his own dream all along. Now, four novels, one novella, and a bunch of short stories later, he still feels the same way. You can find him at www.stefanbolz.thirdscribe.com.

Reviews

[Seamus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, heart breaking, shocking, loving glimpse into the world of a homeless teenager and the people she meets on her own personal journey of discovery and following her musical dreams.

Some help, some need her help, some just want to really hurt and abuse her!

A highly recommended novella!

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Young-Adult genre book, and that isn't the kinda thing that I normally read, but I enjoy Stefan Bolz' tales in general, and his White Dragon series is terrific!
This story follows 16year-old Jennifer from the moment she runs away from a bad situation at home, equipped with a backpack, her old guitar, and her dreams. She follows her heart towards a musical career. She starts out a trifle rudderless, but she soon sees the path that will get her there.
 Part of the book takes place in my hometown of Portland Oregon. Powell's Books is mentioned, a place I loved and worked at for 30+ years, a place to meet up with friends, or in this story, offering up a refuge for an afternoon... Part of the book takes place in Oakland, where my husband grew up, so how could I not love it... I nearly fell out of my seat when I noticed that 2 of my Facebook friends had been "Tuckerized", and both showed up for the vocal contest, Festival of the Voice.  Sorry, Hank... You didn't win the contest!     Lol

[Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the feels. This was a great little story with some wonderful characters. Stefan could pretty much write anything and it will be worth reading.