Such Sweet Sorrow

About the Book

As a photographer I am always aware that faces ... especially eyes ... have a story to tell. As a writer, I often call up the visual image to lead me into a descriptive narrative. When I photographed these children in 1971, their faces had a story to tell. I believe I have that story in my novel, "Such Sweet Sorrow." This suspense thriller is set in the hills of East Tennessee. The story begins when a rural school teacher's seven-year-old student, Donna-Dean Silcox, says she has been told not to come home from school. This situation ultimately leads to the discovery by the County Sheriff, of an "outlandish" murder. The Sheriff quickly endears himself to the child, to the teacher, and to the reader. This piece of Southern fiction keeps you turning pages through cliff-hanging chapters.

About the Author

Carolyn Ellis, a native Tennessean, is a first-time author whose love of photography began at age 10 when she used an Ansco Press Camera for a 4-H project. After college, Carolyn worked for a Public Broadcasting television station and honed her photojournalism skills in the Public Relations Department. Those skills would be enhanced at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York while working as a Research Assistant on a Local Government grant project. Moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, Carolyn discovered yet another aspect of photography, that of photographing newborn babies at several Tulsa hospital nurseries. Transferring with this nationwide company back home to Tennessee, she has spent 23 years photographing babies. As "Such Sweet Sorrow" began to unfold, Carolyn focused her writing on character-driven Southern fiction, recalling a beloved college Professor's constant reprimand of "who's story is this, and why do we care?" For the past four years, another passion has entered Carolyn's life. She is a Historical Interpreter at The Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson near Nashville, Tennessee.