About the Author

Dear Reader:Welcome! I'm SO glad you're here! I am the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of over a dozen books that have been translated into 21 languages. I write fiction under the pen name, Viola Shipman, as a tribute to my working poor Ozarks grandma, whose family stories, heirlooms and love inspire my novels and inspired me to become a writer. My novels are a tribute to family and our elders and meant to inspire hope. My grandma used to say, "Life is as short as one blink of God's eye, but we too often forget what matters most in that blink." As a result, my novels are meant to remind readers of what's most important in life: Each other. My new summer novel, The Edge of Summer, is a deeply personal story, woven from beautiful memories of my childhood. The novel is inspired by my grandma's buttons and button jars. I grew up in grandmas' sewing rooms, playing with those buttons as they sat behind their Singers making my school clothes or turning scraps into beautiful quilts. These small moments changed my life and perspective on life profoundly. My Grandma Shipman stitched overalls at a local factory until she couldn't stand straight. And my Grandma Rouse was also an accomplished seamstress. But even after sewing all day for work, nothing brought them more joy than finding the perfect pattern or creating their own designs and taking a seat at their Singers. It represented one of the first times in my life I was able to witness in real time what happens when talent meets inspiration. My grandmothers both had Singer sewing machines, and I thought they were the most beautiful things in the world: Black with a beautiful gold inlay pattern atop the original, old treadle oak cabinet, glowing with a rich patina. Moreover, they had jars and tins - even old Crayola boxes - filled with beautiful buttons that lined their cabinets and shelves. I still have many of them to this day. As I write in The Edge of Summer, Miss Mabel tells her daughter, Sutton, the following, inspired by my grandmas' own words to me:"Look at these beautiful buttons. So many buttons in my jars: Fabric, shell, glass, metal, ceramic. All forgotten. All with a story. All from someone and somewhere. People don't give a whit about buttons anymore, but I do. They hold value, these things that just get tossed aside. Buttons are still the one thing that not only hold a garment together but also make it truly unique. Lots of beauty and secrets in buttons if you just look long and hard enough."My grandmothers were like ballerinas at their Singers, their bodies in motion and in tune with the machine. It was a gorgeous dance to watch. They were also the first "artists" I ever knew, though they were never called that and would turn red today at the mere utterance of such a fancy word. But they taught me to create. To take pride in what I created. To continue perfecting my talent. The Edge of Summer is inspired by t

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