Maren C. Tirabassi's forty years' experience in mainline ministry shape Wanda Duff's professional life (but not her personality). Tirabassi is a former Poet Laureate of the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and has published poetry and short stories in fifteen anthologies, as well as twenty nonfiction titles. Maria Mankin, Maren's daughter, has written five nonfiction books and a thriller, Circ (Pigeon Park Press). Rye's dilemmas are influenced by Mankin's ten years in education as a teacher and administrator. She holds a degree in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College.
