The Nun's Betrothal

College in West Hartford before marrying her husband, Jared. Following his academic career, they lived in various places, including four years at Indiana University, where Ida finished her BA degree in history. In 2002, after thirty years in Vancouver, British Columbia, they returned to the US to live in Seattle, Washington. Ida has been writing fiction and memoir since she retired in 1996. A member of Pacific Northwest Writers Association, she won first prize for historical fiction at PNWA’s annual convention in 2009. Her novel, Song of Isabel, grew out of that experience; The Nun’s Betrothal was developed from characters appearing in Song of Isabel. She published My Polio Memoir: 1953–2016 with Lulu.com in 2016.

Author photo © Emily R. Ashmore

SELECTED TITLES FROM SHE WRITES PRESS

She Writes Press is an independent publishing company founded to serve women writers everywhere. Visit us at www.shewritespress.com.

Song of Isabel by Ida Curtis. $16.95, 978-1631523717. In ninth-century France, a handsome officer in the King’s army rescues preteen Isabel from an assault by a passing warrior. When the officer returns to her father’s estate several years later, sparks fly and emotions tangle.

Dark Lady by Charlene Ball. $16.95, 978-1-63152-228-4. Emilia Bassano Lanyer—poor, beautiful, and intelligent, born to a family of Court musicians and secret Jews, lover to Shakespeare and mistress to an older nobleman—survives to become a published poet in an era when most women’s lives are rigidly circumscribed.

After Midnight by Diane Shute-Sepahpour. $16.95, 978-1-63152-913-9. When horse breeder Alix is forced to temporarily swap places with her estranged twin sister—the wife of an English lord—her forgotten past begins to resurface.

Elmina’s Fire by Linda Carleton. $16.95, 978-1-63152-190-4. A story of conflict over such issues as reincarnation and the nature of good and evil that are as relevant today as they were eight centuries ago, Elmina’s Fire offers a riveting window into a soul struggling for survival amid the conflict between the Cathars and the Catholic Church.

Conjuring Casanova by Melissa Rea. $16.95, 978-1-63152-056-3. Headstrong ER physician Elizabeth Hillman is a career woman who has sworn off men and believes the idea of love in the twenty-first century is a fairy-tale—but when Giacomo Casanova steps into her life on a rooftop in Italy, her reality and concept of love are forever changed.

Faint Promise of Rain by Anjali Mitter Duva. $16.95, 978-1-938314-97-1. Adhira, a young girl born to a family of Hindu temple dancers, is raised to be dutiful—but ultimately, as the world around her changes, it is her own bold choice that will determine the fate of her family and of their tradition.