After the Sucker Punch

Publisher Marketing: They buried her father at noon, at five she found his journals, and in the time it took to read one-and-a-half pages her world turned upside down... he thought she was a failure. Every child, no matter what age, wants to know their father loves them, and Tessa Curzio - thirty-six, emerging writer, ex-rocker, lapsed Catholic, defected Scientologist, and fourth in a family of eight complicated people - is no exception. But just when she thought her twitchy life was finally coming together - solid relationship, creative job; a view of the ocean - the one-two punch of her father's death and posthumous indictment proves an existential knockout. She tries to "just let it go," as her sister suggests, but life viewed through the filter of his damning words is suddenly skewed, shaking the foundation of everything from her solid relationship and winning job to the truth of her family, even her sense of self. From there, friendships strain, bad behavior ensues, new men entreat, and family drama spikes, all leading to her little-known aunt, a nun and counselor, who lovingly strong-arms Tessa onto a journey of discovery and reinvention. It's a trip that's not always pretty - or particularly wise - but somewhere in all the twists and turns unexpected truths are found. Author and longtime Huffington Post contributor, Lorraine Devon Wilke, takes an irreverent look at father/daughter relationships through the unique prism of Tessa's saga and its exploration of family, faith, cults, creativity, new love and old, and the struggle to define oneself against the inexplicable perceptions of a deceased parent. Told with both sass and sensibility, with the unique bonus of a free downloadable song link in the epilogue, it's a story wrapped in contemporary culture but with a very classic heart. Cover design by Grace Amandes @ www.gracemandes.com Cover photographs by Lorraine Devon Wilke Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 12/08/2014 (EAN 9781497596306, Paperback) Contributor Bio:  Devon Wilke, Lorraine Lorraine Devon Wilke-writer, photographer, singer/songwriter-started early as a creative hyphenate. First, there was music and theater, next came rock & roll, then a leap into film when a feature she co-wrote (To Cross the Rubicon) was produced by a Seattle film company, opening doors in a variety of creative directions. In the years following, she wrote for and performed on theater stages, developed her photography skills, and accrued a library of well-received feature screenplays. She kept her hand in music throughout-songwriting, recording, performing-leading to the fruition of the longtime goal of recording an original album, Somewhere On the Way, garnered stellar reviews and can be found at CDBaby and iTunes. She continues with music whenever she can (which, she maintains, is never, ever, enough!); a collection of her recorded material is available at SoundCloud. Devon Wilke's current life is split between Playa del Rey and Ferndale, California, and is shared with her husband, Pete Wilke, an entertainment and securities attorney, her son, engineer and web designer Dillon Wilke, and stepdaughter, educational administrator Jennie Wilke Willens and family. She curates and manages both her fine art photography site and personal blog (www.rockpapermusic.com), is a regular contributor at The Huffington Post, and writes a monthly column for the award-winning northern California newspaper, The Ferndale Enterprise. Both her debut novel, After The Sucker Punch, and her short story, "She Tumbled Down," were 2014 publishing successes she hopes you'll enjoy, and she invites you to access her essays and journalistic pieces @ www. Contently.com. You can follow her journey with this and all her books at her publishing website, www. AfterTheSuckerPunch.com. Contact: info@lorrainedevonwilke.com Information/links: www.lorrainedevonwilke.com