Meet
A L I S O N
Across oceans and centuries, Alison's stories follow individuals changed by events as drastic as a plague or as small as a thought.
She loves to plumb the depths of historical characters, usually real people, who navigated eras of tumult, when everything they believed about God, humankind, and themselves was upended within a lifetime. The Renaissance. The Reformation. The Black Death.
How do these characters swim in such cross currents and rip tides? How does what's happening in their society unleash their own deepest demons, and how do they find redemption? What can we learn from their mistakes and triumphs to help us navigate the complexities of our society and of ourselves?
Alison is happiest when she is climbing a medieval tower in Germany or descending into Etruscan underground chambers in Tuscany, where she moved in 2017 with her 89-year-old mom and her four-pound dog, Prose.
A perfect vacation is hiking the Scottish Highlands or the Green Mountains in Vermont. And a great evening is curling up with an original diary or correspondence from the 1300s, accompanied by the right cheese.
Though she's a long way from her Ozark mountain roots, Alison learned the magic of words from her grandmother, Beulah Evans, a self-taught lover of literature. Together, they read twelve books every month, delivered over dirt roads by the bookmobile. At night, they sat on the steps under the stars and played word games.
Alison holds different master's degrees, including one in fiction. She is currently at work on a novel about the mysterious, early Renaissance, Italian artist, Giotto.
The old stones hummed with an ancient energy, like cicadas risen from the ground - voices trembling and sighing.
