Audrey RL Wyatt

Audrey RL Wyatt is right brained to a fault. Before attacking prose, she exhibited photography in juried shows and worked in theatre; acting, teaching and creating children’s theater curricula. So it was surprising that her writing career began in the non-fiction realms of politics, environment and law.

Finally succumbing to her creative nature, Audrey now writes fiction. Her debut novel, Poles Apart, is a story of family inspired by Audrey’s childhood among Holocaust survivors in Cleveland. Whether it was their silence or the horrific stories they told, their presence left an indelible mark. It has been honored with five awards. Her essays and short fiction, often featuring strong-willed, quirky women, have been published in various forums, both print and online.

Always one to foster aspiring artists, Audrey founded Southeast Valley Fiction Writers near Phoenix, Arizona, and Bay State Writers in Southeast Massachusetts. She gives a good deal of time to area schools and also teaches Memoir Writing to seniors. She is a partner in LitSisters Publishing, a boutique house publishing women writers, as well as a founding member of LitSisters, a networking and support community for writers.

Audrey loves to travel and has enjoyed living all over the country, from the Rockies to Boston Harbor. She currently makes her home in the Valley of the Sun with her incredible husband, their two terrific teenage daughters, and their beagle-basset mix, the Artful Dodger.

Awards

Poles Apart, Third Place in Alabama Writer’s Conclave Annual Competition, 2009

Poles Apart, Honorable Mention in Frontiers in Writing Annual Contest, 2009

Poles Apart, Honorable Mention in the Ft. Bend Writer’s Guild 25th Annual Novel Contest, 2008

Poles Apart, Second Place in The Sandy, Crested Butte Writers Conference Annual Contest, 2007

Poles Apart, Semi-Finalist in the international Summer Literary Seminars annual fiction contest, 2006

Essay, Ticket to Ride, Honorable Mention in Write Helper, 2008

Cami Butler Memorial Writing Scholarship, Pikes Peak Writers Conference, 2004

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About Poles Apart

CHAIM SCHLESSEL lost his family to the Holocaust more than sixty years ago. He vowed to embrace life and protect his own wife and children from his painful memories and harrowing experiences. Finding solace in his family, his painting and the healing effects of his wife’s cooking, he has kept his nightmares at bay. But when a new neighbor unwittingly triggers the terrors of his past, Chaim is faced with the horrors that increasingly haunt his soul and threaten his sanity.

DAVID SCHLESSEL, grown, married and successful, is plagued by the always taboo subject of his father’s suffering at the hands of the Nazis. As a second generation survivor, he struggles with his father’s unwillingness to discuss the past and his own inability to communicate with those he loves. With his marriage falling apart and his relationship with his own children deteriorating, David, after numerous false starts, ultimately vows to conquer his inner turmoil.

United by a history they cannot discuss, yet starkly alone in their private struggles, father and son confront their demons as well as one another in a stand-off that will change them both forever.

LitSisters Publishing, Phoenix, AZ, January, 2010

ISBN: 1449994891

What Readers Are Saying:

OMG OMG OMG!!!! This book is a must read! Laugh, cry, cringe, feel… Once you finish it, you will miss those characters! I still think of them! –Thomas Smith

Half way through the first page, I realized I was going to be addicted to this book. The characters instantly came to life, each with their own personality and complexities. -C. O’Neill

The characters became so real so quickly and I cared what happened to them. The short chapters suit the plot twists and keep the action moving from various characters’ perspectives. You certainly don’t have to be Jewish to love this family and cheer them on. Chaim and Frieda are as welcoming as a hug, and I could almost smell Frieda’s baking while I read. The issue of holocaust survivors and their families is an interesting one about which I had no idea until I read Poles Apart. It was a very entertaining book which I highly recommend. -M. Giarda

I have to tell you how thrilled I was with your book. I couldn’t put it down, as cliché Jack would say. There are some very powerful passages that haunted me – so I read it again! – Carmela Hopkins