AUTHOR OF
THE PERSECUTION OF MILDRED DUNLAP
“If you need to question your values, read this book! The author captures the intolerance and hypocrisy of a 1895 Nevada town, and its transcendence in time through tolerance and understanding. The angst and pain that two women feel daily, living the ‘lie’ of their lesbian relationship, and the prejudice they must endure, is unconscionable. I was moved to tears by their struggle in the face of the conflicted values that continue to dominate our ‘modern’ society.” William K. Fox, PhD, Professor of Zoology
“Paulette Mahurin’s first novel is surefooted and unflinching in its portrayal of a singular and unique character and her compelling struggles. Compassionate and confident, Mahurin allows Mildred’s story to burn through onto the page with all its inherent outrage and tenacious, abiding love. Here is a character we can champion—flawed, striving, surviving— and fully embrace in her awkward, beautiful navigation of a world that resists her in every way.” Deb Norton, Playwrite/screenwriter of The Whole Banana
SYNOPSIS:
The year 1895 was filled with memorable historical events: the Dreyfus Affair
divided France; Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta address; Richard Olney,
United States Secretary of State, expanded the effects of the Monroe Doctrine in
settling a boundary dispute between the United Kingdom and Venezuela; and Oscar
Wilde was tried and convicted for gross indecency under Britain’s recently
passed law that made sex between males a criminal offense. When news of Wilde’s
conviction went out over telegraphs worldwide, it threw a small Nevada town into
chaos. This is the story of what happened when the lives of its citizens were
impacted by the news of Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment. It is a chronicle of hatred
and prejudice with all its unintended and devastating consequences, and how love
and friendship bring strength and healing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paulette Mahurin is a Nurse Practitioner who lives in Ojai, California with her
husband Terry and their three dogs—Eli, Max, and Bella. She practices women’s
health in a rural clinic and writes in her spare time.
FROM THE AUTHOR:
FOLLOW PAULETTE MAHURIN:
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FROM THE AUTHOR:
From the time I was ten year old, I've loved to write. While in college I
wrote two award winning short stories. This encouraged me to continue to write,
and write I did but never completed any of my novels due to other
responsibilities: education, jobs, family, etc. After attending and receiving a
Master's Degree in the Nurse Practitioner Program at UCLA, I went to work in the
second busiest emergency room in Los Angeles county. I saw and learned about
things that haunted me, until bit by a tick and diagnosed with Lyme Disease
(which went to my heart valves, brain, and muscular skeletal system) knocked me
down and afforded me time to write and release the memories onto pages before
me. I wrote, and wrote, and released what was stored inside, which finally gave
way to a story that was to change my life, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap.
When I began to feel better, I joined a writing class, in Ojai, CA, where I
live. The teacher, Deb Norton (screenwrite/playwrite of The Whole Banana) had us
do an exercise involving a photo. We were to write a 10 minute mystery. The
photo I picked was of two women huddled close together in clothing that looked
circa turn of the twentieth century. I made them a Lesbian couple trying to
avoid being found out. In my research, I came across Oscar Wilde's imprisonment.
Britain had recently changed it's laws to make homosexual activity, a man having
sex with another man, a criminal offense resulting in a two year hard labor
prison sentence. The combination of the photo from that writing class and Oscar
Wilde's imprisonment were the seeds that started the story, six years in the
making. For those six years, I studied Wilde, the history of Lesbians, western
settlement in the United States, and I opened to what it must have been like to
live in fear of being persecuted because of the nature of one's existence, that
can no more be changed than the color of grass. As I wrote, I saw myself in the
characters who I dialogued with, related with as if we were friends today, and
in doing this I learned that external factors may change (the environment,
technology, family relating, etc.) but the nature of the human condition and how
we manifest remains the same. There will always be stories to tell, to write, to
read, to appreciate, because we invest in literature from our humanness, our
emotional composition, and we relate to the imagery created with narrative and
dialogue that suit our preferences. We are drawn in, over and over and over
again, to similar story lines, themes, sequels, because of this human
experience--that in sitting down before a book or ebook, we are transcended out
of our ordinary lives to magical places that written words create, no matter how
similar or repetitive the story, because,after all, we are all living,
breathing, stories.
Thank you for arriving at my page. I hope you read and enjoy my
story.
FOLLOW PAULETTE MAHURIN:
WEBSITE
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